A Million Tomorrows
by Seventh Chance
Summary: Jack leaves a sordid past to begin a new life in a strange village filled with even stranger people, only to find that no matter how far you run, you can't run away from yourself. BTN/Mineral Town. Many pairings.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The letter came to his flat in the city early in the morning. It was the kind of letter you knew would one day come but never wished to receive, beginning to dread the post as the years dragged on, feeling its inevitability growing in the form of a pit of anxiety deep in one's belly every time you'd see the mailman approaching the rusty old mailbox. When it finally did arrive, the envelope was a putrid yellow, making its unpleasant contents even less inviting to read. He knew what it was before he even glanced at the return address. It was the announcement of his grandfather's death, a somber revelation laced heavily with the guilt of many neglected years.

His grandfather had been a farmer in a remote little village far from the bustling city in which the young man had been raised by his less-than-doting parents. Their visits to the farm had been scarce to say the least, the last being a summer in which the young man, no more than a mere child at the time, had stayed with his grandfather for two months to learn a bit about farming. Being as young as he was, his 'farm education' consisted mostly of chasing chickens around the property and lounging around the town's forests with a few of the local, equally bored children.

That summer was the last he had seen of his grandfather, that farm, and that village. He had remembered his formative teenage years when his parents would engage in a heated discussion over what would come of that farm the fateful day his grandfather died. _'Sell the damn thing!'_ his mother would urge over dinner. His father never seemed quite sold on the idea, perhaps due to his own guilt regarding his now elderly father. So when that letter came, the letter he had dreaded all those years, the young man made a rash decision: he decided to take over the farm.

At 25 years old, Jack Declan Harper was not exactly the kind of person you'd picture running a farm. He stood just over six feet, slender build with slightly shaggy reddish-brown hair and blue eyes of which to call striking would be an overstatement. He had spent his life, born and raised, in a crowded city, but to call him a city boy would be an exaggeration. After all, he had decided on his own accord to leave - a place of hustle and bustle, fast-paced and full of strange places and all kinds of unusual people, good and bad – to settle into a small town on an island notorious for its isolation. No one forced him. He himself didn't even know why he decided to go through with the offer. Maybe it was guilt. Maybe it stemmed from his internal conflict of never feeling like he had a family growing up – or, at least not one that cared. Or perhaps the city bored him; something about living there just didn't quite feel _right_. There was nothing there for him anyway. He worked a dead-end job going nowhere, his friends were all indispensable, dimwitted bastards, and his girlfriend of two years had left him high and dry months ago. Jack floated through life in the city, lacking substantial goals and ambitions, lacking the true type of human bonds he saw in and envied of other people. He often felt he existed, and nothing more.

So when he received a call from his father (to which he hesitated for some time to even answer) several days after the arrival of the infamous letter, informing him that the mayor of Mineral Town was offering the farm to the family if they wanted it, Jack agreed to take on the responsibility. His father was, understandably, highly skeptical - though, to be fair, Jack's father was skeptical as to whether his son could ever do _anything_ of value in his life. Perhaps there were times when this kind of faith (or lack thereof) was warranted, as Jack had made his fair share of less-than-wise decision in his life; danced with a few devils, fell off a couple metaphorical horses and didn't bother to get back up.

"This could be good for you," his father's stern voice was lecturing through the other end of the telephone, "Just try not to fuck it all up, alright?"

"Yeah." Jack afforded his father only the bare minimum of his attention, focusing the rest on dragging his finger through the foam of his beer in intricate, mindless patterns.

"That farm meant a lot to my father," his voice had risen an octave, becoming suddenly sentimental, "I was born in that village, you know. It's very different from the city. But those people there meant a lot to your grandfather and I sincerely hope you realize the weight of the responsibility you're taking on."

Jack felt like he was five all over again, receiving a lecture with the sole purpose to remind him of his insolence and general shortcomings.

"I do." He was attempting to at least feign interest now, for the sake of how emotional his father seemed to be becoming over the entire ordeal. Jack didn't understand why; it wasn't like his father ever spoke with his grandfather. In fact, for as long as Jack could remember the two had always been fighting about one thing or another. That was why Jack had grown up only having seen his grandfather a handful of times, supplemented by the occasional letter. In some ways, Jack felt robbed by his father over this; he didn't see why the man couldn't set aside his stubborn need to always be right for the sake of allowing his son to have a relationship with one of the few living grandparents he had. That – like most subjects that were difficult to discuss – was strictly off-limits unless he was feeling especially masochistic that day and actually wanted to be shouted at.

"Mayor Thomas said the place is pretty rundown. I guess my father had troubles in his old age and let the place go quite a bit. It'll take a lot of restoring."

Jack silently wondered how long this conversation could keep going, his father talking in circles and conveying only one point: _you have no idea what you're getting yourself into_.

"I'm sure I'll manage. I remember the townspeople being nice when I was little. I'm sure they'll help me out if I have any questions. Look, Dad, I don't know wh-"

"Aren't you going to miss your life in the city?"

Jack was taken aback by this question. His family wasn't the type of family who really talked about their _feelings_. He hesitated over the question, taking a pause to sip his beer and consider his words.

"Look, I've been thinking about leaving here for a long time. Since Penelo- Well, since… You know. I'm just ready to get out of this place. I hate it. This is something I want to do, and I think I can do it. Plus I'm at least marginally interested to know what Grandpa's life was like… I don't know _anything_ about him, really. Except the trivial stuff, of course."

"Well, Jack," his father breathed in a deep breath, preparing himself for what he was about to say. "I'm proud of you, son."

It was the first time Jack had ever heard those words before. He felt a peculiar mixture of joy and sadness, and he didn't know why.

* * *

><p>Jack had never been good with words and he had especially never been good with 'goodbyes'. Whether or not his friends deserved a warning preceding his sudden absence was debatable. He considered telling them one evening, two nights before he was scheduled to leave (two plane rides and a short boat ride, respectively), when they were all out to a pub. Everyone was enjoying drinks and sharing laughs at someone else's expensive. His ex-girlfriend – the assassin of any last shred of optimism and hope Jack had ever had left in the dusty, forgotten corners of his soul – was there. She was like a bad habit he couldn't quit, except he <em>could<em> quit her had she not been mates with all his friends and thus attended every outing they went on. It seemed like she insisted on making life needlessly awkward and generally miserable for Jack at every possible opportunity. He didn't know why; she had been the one who left him, kicked him out of their apartment, and never gave him more than a vague, dismissive response whenever he tried to figure out _why_. She represented Jack's entire life in the city, being everything he had ever worked for, based his life around, and truly cared about – and now he found even her presence absolutely intolerable.

He left the bar mid-conversation and without explanation. He had already emotionally detached himself from that city weeks ago, ever since he had agreed to move. It was still snowing there, the flakes drifting down serenely and blanketing the ground as he stepped out into the frigid night air. He shoved his hands deep into his coat pockets as he began to walk, breath hanging around his face.

"Jack?"

He turned to see who had followed him out. His heart sank.

"What?" he asked flatly. Penelope was trotting up to him, her long brown hair trailing behind her in the icy breeze.

"I wanted to talk to you." She sounded inappropriately cheerful.

"About?"

"About us."

Jack was staring off at a couple who were making out on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street. The sight was strangely revolting to him.

"_We_ don't exist anymore," he corrected, refusing to look the girl in the eyes.

"Yes…" she said softly, looking down at her feet in the snow, "It's just… I wanted to talk about _why_ it happened, you know… the way it happened." Her voice was soft and innocent - an act, Jack knew, one he had seen many times in their years together.

"I stopped asking you _why_ for a reason. I really don't care anymore-"

"Jack-"

"In fact, I've given up on trying to figure out _why_ you do anything that you do, Penny. '_Why'_ has become irrelevant over the last six month," Jack shook his head. He could feel his heart thumping wildly in his chest. He despised the fact that she could still elicit that kind of reaction in him. Any kind of reaction felt like more than she deserved. Decidedly having heard enough, he turned to begin walking again.

Penelope wasn't going to give up that easily. She chased hastily behind, her boots crunching softly in the snow.

"I never meant to hurt you, Jack. I was confused. It all just felt like_ too much_. Everything was just _too fucking much_."

"Penelope, honestly, I'm over it. Can we please just stop playing these games?" he called back to her bitterly, refusing to slow his pace.

"But I still love you, Jack."

He stopped. The words felt like daggers in his chest. Turning slowly, he stared down at her face. It was as if six months of absorbed guilt was showing for the first time: her pale blue eyes looked broken, welled with tears, pools of mascara under her eyes and marking a map of regret down her cheeks.

Jack didn't know what to say to her. There was nothing _to_ say. The damage had been done months ago; years of love and devotion replaced with resentment and bitterness. There was nothing in him he could give her except the mess inside him she had left. And even if he wanted to, he knew he couldn't.

"No, you don't," he whispered in a soft but curt tone. "Goodbye, Penny."

Taking one last look at her face, Jack turned and walked away.

Three days later, he boarded a plane out of the city. He had sent in a couple boxes to Mineral Town a few weeks prior, but the majority of his belonging had been sent over to his parents' house to store in their attic. He didn't say goodbye to anyone else, nor did he tell anyone where he was going; Jack just didn't see the need.

He stared out the window as the plane took off, thinking that even then, there might have been a some kind of chance to turn back – even then, as the city began to grow smaller beneath him, there might have been the slightest possibility of a life for him there. But as the plane broke through the clouds and the city disappeared beneath the thick white blanket, the realization finally settled somewhere in his heart.

Jack knew it was the end.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Introduction: <strong>Hello! This is my first ever go at fanfiction, fueled heavily by my desire to explore the characters of one of my favorite fandoms in an interesting and new way. I am sometimes disappointed by the superficial, lackluster personalities of many of the characters in-game, so I want to write a story revolving around my favorite Harvest Moon cast with plenty of angst and drama, and explore some of the character's back stories and varying personalities. Pairings might not always be canon and will change (probably often) throughout the story. Expect strong language, violence, and adult themes and situations (probably limes, but no lemons) in future chapters. Please do enjoy and review if you decide to come along for the ride! I greatly appreciate feedback and suggestions.


	2. Chapter 1: Welcome to Mineral Town

**Chapter One**  
><strong>Welcome to Mineral Town<strong>

Settling into farm life hadn't been easy for Jack. As much as he had scoffed at his father's constant reminders of how different life was in Mineral Town compared to the city, Jack wasn't prepared for what he had thrown himself into. Cars didn't exist in Mineral Town – there weren't any roads to drive them on even if one was to somehow make its way there. The village was small, even smaller than he remembered (funny how everything in the world seems so much bigger when you're only a wide-eyed, baby faced seven year-old) and surrounded by dense forest. They weren't the only town on the island by any means, but the paths connecting to the neighboring villages through the forests were overgrown and arduous; Mineral Town found it easier to import and export their goods by boat which could be driven from the dock on their beach to the harbor of a nearby city on the island (to call it a city may perhaps be an overstatement compared to the one Jack had grown up in, but compared to Mineral Town it was such). This task seemed to have fallen on one man: an elderly dark-skinned gentleman by the name of Greg who made his living transporting goods and fishing off of his boat in his off hours. Jack didn't remember the people of the village; he had just been far too young the last time he visited.

He met the mayor first. Thomas was a short, squat, but kind and excitable man. He was eager to explain just how the town worked to Jack, including how to ship his goods in order to turn a profit, where to get his seeds, livestock, and poultry, and where to go in case he needed any maintenance on his tools. Mayor Thomas then personally escorted him to the market so he could purchase his first few bags of seeds and several bags of fertilizer. Zack, the designated shipper and mailman who appeared as if he had had a brief stint with steroids, showed up soon after to further explain the shipping process to the novice farmer.

On the farm itself, the house, barn, and stable were all considerably run down. Jack barely had the nerve to enter the chicken coop thanks to a blanket of cobwebs that menaced in every corner and a family of rats who'd seemed to have taken up residency in the place. He spent his first day after the Mayor had left, sweeping out and fixing up the house he was supposed to somehow turn into a home.

Fortunately it wasn't anything to deem a complete lost cause: the house was a decent size with a large bed, a large screened TV (though nothing compared to the flat screen he'd had at his apartment in the city) that unexpectedly still worked, a tolerably sized kitchen (not that Jack ever did much cooking anyway), a dining table, a green woven rug to tie the place together, a bathroom connected to the back of the house that was adequate, and his Grandfather had left a large bookshelf full of literature pertaining to farming and animal rearing. Once the dust had been cleared from the hardwood floors and the windows forced open to allow some fresh air to circulate in, the place didn't look half bad.

Jack didn't have much to offer the place in order to make it his own. He hadn't come with much besides a few boxes full of clothes and precious belongings and the unyielding cynicism that followed him everywhere, courtesy of an emotionally absent mother, an overworking, under-caring father, and an ex-girlfriend of whom had personally extinguished the little flame that burned in his heart for some time.

The weather was mild in spring, but he still managed to work up a sweat in that field. It wasn't surprising considering how unbelievably overgrown the place had become in the time between the death of his grandfather and the day he had arrived to take the place over. The field was considerably worse than the house.

The first six days were difficult but the first three days were the hardest. Jack had sweated more in those three days - pulling weeds, breaking up the branches storms had dragged onto the land, tilling the soil - than he was sure he ever had in his life. On his fourth day came the plowing which left blisters over his hands that cracked and oozed and stung. But Jack persisted. Once the fertilizer had been spread, the seeds were planted and watered, taking care not to over-water according to how much the book on crops had instructed.

He'd spent most of his first six days working and very little of it socializing – not that Jack was much of a socialite to begin with – but he had managed to meet only a few of the villagers in that better part of a week.

As the sun began to set on sixth day, Jack stood at the edge of the field, looking wearily over all the work that still needed to be done. He attempted to calculate just how much time it would take to finish clearing the remainder of the field or just how much rope it would take to make a proper noose and hang himself from the tree by the fish pond. Sighing, he glanced over at Apollo – a brown mutt of a Shepherd and a St. Bernard with an intimidating look and size and a mild, carefree temperament – who was belly up in the tall grass with his tongue lolled lazily out of his mouth.

"Lazy mutt. Living the dream, that's what _you're_ doing," Jack scowled, though he was rather endeared by his canine companion's listless demeanor. Apollo was, considering Jack's life track record, one of the only stabilities and loyalties he had had. He loved that dog fiercely – much more than he cared to admit.

He went back to admiring the slowly setting sun.

"Drink?" he mused quietly to himself. "Drink."

Perhaps it was because Jack Harper was drawn to alcohol like a moth to a flame, but it didn't take him long to find the bar. The bar was located at the Inn which lodged several of the town's residents and served hot meals during the day. By the time he pushed his sweaty, slightly muddy self through the front door, it was already dark outside. The Inn was warm, dimly lit with ambient, upbeat music playing perhaps a little too loud and the fragrant smell of pine wood and frying food mixing thick in the air. There was the buzz of chattering people, some sitting at tables in groups, several seated up at the bar. A few people were playing cards and throwing darts and it looked as if two people were engaged in a drinking contest at one of the tables which had attracted several spectators. Drawing in a deep breath, Jack made his way over to the bar, taking a seat beside a striking young blonde woman and a rather odd-looking redheaded man with large glasses. The thickness of the lenses magnified his eyes in a way that Jack preferred not to look at.

The young woman seemed to take interest in the stranger beside her.

"Hey, you're the guy who took over the farm, aren't you?" Her bright green eyes blinked with sincere curiosity. It was probably safe to assume that everyone in Mineral Town knew who he was before he knew any of them; it wasn't often people moved in and out of such a place.

"Yeah," Jack ran a hand through his auburn hair. It was getting too shaggy. He wondered where he could get a decent haircut in a place like Mineral Town.

A wide grin appeared on the girl's face. "I'm Karen. This here is Rick," she slurred her words a bit and it was only then that Jack realized the young woman was considerably intoxicated. She was wearing dark jeans and a white blouse, her skin slightly tanned and her blonde hair framing her delicate features. She was the kind of girl you see in magazines, traditionally beautiful in every sense of the word, but at the same time there was something about her that left Jack feeling that she was the kind of girl who could start a bar fight and probably win: tall, gorgeous, petite, but wasn't about to take shit from anyone.

"Jack," he replied with slight amusement.

A redheaded man with a moustache called to him from down the bar as he polished a glass with a rag the way they do in the movies. "What'll it be?" His voice was gruff, but not hostile.

"Uh, just a beer. Whatever's on tap," Jack called back hesitantly.

"That place is pretty run down," Rick, the geeky-looking redhead thought aloud, sizing Jack up as if to speculate whether or not the young man was even cut out for the job.

"Yeah, it's kind of a shithole," Jack admitted, shrugging. Karen giggled at this, though Rick did not seem as amused.

Suddenly a young redheaded girl wearing a fitted black shirt and a pair of dark wash denim appeared behind the bar in front of him, setting down a large, frothy mug of beer. Her hair was pulled back in a high, braided pony tail, her round cheeks dotted with faint freckles. She had wide, bright blue eyes and a cheerful smile on her face. Something about her seemed strangely familiar.

"Here you go," she announced, her bubbly voice just as sugar-sweet as Jack would have expected.

"Thanks." Reaching in his pocket, he pulled out what he owed her plus a tip of which she gratefully took, slipping the bills into the back pocket of her jeans. He smiled and sipped at the beer, realizing after a moment that the redheaded girl had not only failed to leave, but was still watching him. Jack glanced up awkwardly, silently wondering if she was expecting a _larger_ tip. As if to answer the inevitable question of who the hell he was that must have been tickling the girl's lips, Karen intervened.

"His name is Jack. He's the grandson of the old farmer. He's the one who's taken it over," Karen leaned on the bar staring at Ann, her words oozing with just how impressive this seemed to her.

"Oh," the redhead said simply, then tilted her head to the side to examine this new farmer.

Jack raised an eyebrow, looking now between all three faces that were staring at him.

"Well, good luck!" she chirped.

"A little help over here?" The redheaded man of whom Jack assumed was her father by their strikingly similar red hair called her over and Jack watched as the young woman smiled, then turned and sauntered off towards her father, her ponytail bouncing along as she went.

"Who was that?" Jack looked to Karen curiously.

Karen smiled. "Ann. She's my best friend. Nice girl."

"Yeah…" Jack murmured into the foam as he went to take another sip of his beer.

Suddenly the bar erupted in the bellowing cheers from a few men seated at one of the tables. Jack, Karen and Rick all turned their heads to witness the commotion. It seemed the drinking contest had resolved with a clear winner, a middle-aged looking man in a purple vest, and the loser, an older looking gentleman with a scraggly beard who appeared rather green in the face. Karen laughed and joined in the cheering from her seat at the bar, waving her hands excitedly in the air. Jack chuckled, momentarily catching Rick's gaze in silent mutual amusement at the girl seated between them.

"That's Duke," Karen explained excitedly, leaning over to Jack and pointing to the victor of the contest who was looking utterly jubilant. "He owns the winery," she pointed out the older gentleman who was now face-down on the table, "And that's Saibara. He's the blacksmith."

Jack wondered if the older gentleman was about to vomit.

"People here really take to the bottle, don't they?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"What else is there to do?" Rick laughed, shaking his head, "A town this small, things get boring quickly. People drink to pass the time."

"Or screw," Karen added to which Rick scowled, giving Jack the impression that the young redheaded man hadn't been seeing much of the latter.

Jack looked over to see a disgruntled police officer, not hassling the man who had just drunkenly passed out face first on the table, but rather counting out several bills to a shorter man of Asian descent in what had presumably been a wager he had just lost. This seemed like a town he could definitely get used to.

Rick was kind enough to point out who was who to Jack, who nodded, trying to take note of whose name belonged to whose face. "Harris, the police officer. And that there is Won; he's a bit of a scam artist, so be wary of him."

"So, what do you guys do anyway?" Jack asked between sips of beer.

"My parents run the market. I help out," Karen announced with such pride that one might think she was announcing herself the winner of a prestigious award.

" I work with my mother and sister at the Poultry Farm. We're right next door to your place," Rick explained in a much more appropriate tone.

"This place must be so different from the city," Karen's fascinatingly green eyes had become wide in sudden realization.

Jack chuckled, "Yeah, it's certainly… different."

"Do you miss it?" Rick asked, tilting his head.

Jack answered a bit more harshly than he had intended, "No, not one bit."

* * *

><p>After two more days of laborious chores – most notably cleaning out the entire barn and chicken coop until they were void of any dust, spiders, mice and all other types of creepy-crawlies – Jack was introduced to what the townsfolk liked to call 'festivals' in Mineral Town. These were not things that existed in the city in which he had grown up. At least, not that he knew of. The idea of everyone gathering in a town square to prattle and engage in various, trivial activities together was beyond a foreign and bizarre concept to him.<p>

This event that would be giving him his first taste of town culture was apparently dubbed the 'Goddess Festival', and involved the young women of Mineral Town dressing up in rather gaudy pink dresses and dancing around while everyone watched. As innocent as its intentions were, Jack was a twenty five year-old young man with a relatively healthy libido that he had been smothering for months and would not be missing the opportunity to see beautiful women dancing in strange outfits for just about anything. As an added bonus, he saw this as an excuse to meet his fellow villagers, a task that work had greatly delayed.

When he arrived bright and early in the morning, thankful to have an excuse not to toil away on the farm for the first time since he arrived, the place was fairly crowded, though he knew not everyone was there. Five young women were dressed exactly as was described to him by Karen at the bar the previous night: in pink dresses with intricately strung floral crowns adorning their heads. He spotted Karen immediately. She was chatting with Mayor Thomas and her parents whom Jack recognized as the owners of the market he had bought his seeds and fertilizer from on his first day in Mineral Town. She waved him over immediately. Obliging, Jack approached.

"Here, let me introduce you to everyone. You haven't been getting out much, have you?" She scowled and grabbed his arm, leading him off to begin introducing (or rather showing him off, as it seemed) to most of the villagers in attendance. He met Duke, the owner of the winery and the same man he had witnessed out-drink the gruff blacksmith two nights prior. He was an exuberant man of whom Jack silently wondered if he was heavily intoxicated at that very moment. His wife, Manna, was something to behold herself: a lovely woman with a mouth that never seemed to stop running. Within the first five minutes of conversation, Jack had already learned all about their absent daughter, Duke's apparent drinking problem, the entire process of making wine, and an outlandish theory about the town doctor, Trent.

After Karen had managed to pry Jack away from the babbling woman of whom Jack simply stood in front of, dumbfounded, wondering how many bugs a year she must have averaged to swallow with all that talking, Jack met Kano, the town's photographer, a shifty looking salesman named Won, a pleasant elderly man named Barley, two children by the names of May and Stu, and a barrage of other villagers whose names Jack would surely forget by the following morning. Everyone seemed nice enough, though Jack didn't miss the fleeting glances of skepticism when they came to realize that this slight young man before them was actually the one given the task of reviving the farm. It took everything in him not to roll his eyes. Yeah, yeah, he didn't look like someone who could do the job, that point had already been made _painfully_ obvious to him many times over by his father before he even left for Mineral Town.

After a while, Karen led Jack to the group of four other girls who he presumed would be dancing that day in the festival on account of their matching garb. Among them was Ann, looking quite lovely but seemingly a little embarrassed by her ensemble of which she kept pulling at awkwardly.

"Hi, Jack," she smiled cheerfully as they approached, to which Jack smiled back.

"Hey."

"Ladies," Karen announced, "this is the guy I was telling you about, the one who took over that farm. Jack, this is Mary, Popuri, Elli, and – well, you know Ann already!"

Jack looked at each girl as Karen announced their names respectively, making note of who was who and hoping not to forget though he had always been bad with names. Each girl smiled when introduced, looking over the new farm boy with curiosity.

"That's such a big farm! Don't overwork yourself," Elli spoke with an honest touch of concern. She had a young, round face, brown doe eyes and shaggy brown hair bobbed just below the jawline.

"I run the library. If you ever need any books about farming, I have tons there." Mary's voice was rather meek. It matched her shy demeanor and she seemed to be trying to hide behind her sleek black hair.

"Thanks. I'll definitely come by," he nodded to Mary, "And I'll try not to," he added with chuckle to Elli.

"Now go wait for the festival to start. Us girls need to have one last-minute pep talk." Karen shooed him away with a wave of her hand and a playful grin. Jack nodded.

"Nice meeting you all," he called as he turned and made his way over to the perimeter of the town square where two men about his own age of whom he had not been introduced to were standing. Neither was speaking to each other nor even feigning interest at what was taking place around them.

"Hey," Jack half mumbled as he went to go stand beside them.

"Hey," they both retorted in unison, glancing at this newcomer before staring back off in random directions at seemingly nothing.

"Jack." He recognized that these weren't men who spoke more than they wanted, and it didn't seem like they wanted to say much.

"Gray," one young man grunted.

"Cliff," the other muttered with a noted meekness as he stared at the ground, looking as if something was deeply troubling him. Jack quickly got the impression that that expression never really went away. And that was the end of their entire conversation. The three young men stood on the outskirts of the town square in silent understanding, watching as the townsfolk continued to chatter, all seeming to highly enjoy themselves.

Eventually the festival started. Music began to play and the girls all fell into formation, performing a rehearsed dance. The villagers all cheered and clapped along enthusiastically. Jack silently wondered what the hell he had gotten himself into. This was different from the city. So, so different. Nothing exceptionally unenjoyable, just… weird. But as the girls continued to dance he simply watched, his gaze falling upon the red haired girl as she twirled and performed, that cheerful grin glued to her innocent face. There was something about her… He recognized her, but he couldn't place where from.

After some time, it was over. Everyone clapped, including Jack. By then it had already grown dark, a full moon hanging high in the sky. Everyone resumed chatting and it wasn't long before Karen, carrying a yellow bag on her shoulder, made her way back over to him, followed by the girl with pinkish strawberry blonde hair he had been introduced to earlier that day as Popuri.

"That was… interesting," was all Jack could muster, not knowing exactly how to describe this first exposure to Mineral Town customs.

Karen giggled, rolling her eyes, "Come on!"

Jack stared blankly at her.

"Come on!" she repeated more forcefully, tugging excitedly at the sleeve of Jack's white shirt.

"Wha?" No one else in the square seemed intent on leaving yet; in fact, by the looks of it they'd all be there late into the night, chatting away.

"Just come on!"

Jack finally complied and the three of them left. He turned just in time to catch Ann's eye from across the town square before disappearing around the corner.

The two girls ran ahead, giggling as Jack half-jogged behind them, confused as to where the hell they were all going. They led him through the woods, past the woodcutter's house, and started up the steep incline towards Mother's Hill. Jack trailed a bit behind as the girls laughed and chatted up ahead, discussing their performance and every once in a while pausing to do a twirl or reenact one of the step patterns. Eventually Karen fell back to walk with Jack, linking one of her arms with his as they walked in comfortable silence. She seemed like a peculiar girl, headstrong and stubborn but with a confidence that only magnified her outward beauty. Jack couldn't remember meeting anyone like her ever before.

Finally, they arrived at their apparent destination: the spot at the base of Mother's Hill where the river pooled. Moonlight illuminated the surface of the glassy, gently moving water. Karen set down the bag beside a rock, and in doing, so Jack could clearly hearing the clinking noise of glass when she did so.

"Wha? What the hell are we doing here?" He looked around, confused.

"Shush." Karen laughed softly, batting her long lashes coyly at him as she stepped back and proceeded to pull the gaudy pink dress from her body and tossing it carelessly on the ground.

"What… Whoa…" Jack blinked, staring at the young woman who stood in front of him, only a black bra and a pair of red panties remaining on her toned body.

She only laughed more at his reaction, pulling the floral headband from her head and tossing it at Jack before going over to her bag and producing two bottles of wine from it. Popuri followed suit in removing her own dress at the water's edge behind her, tossing it listlessly aside.

Jack suddenly wondered if the pink haired girl was at least eighteen. The thought quickly vanished though as Karen popped the cork on one of the bottles.

"Drink up!" Grasping the bottle, she threw her head back, taking several large mouthfuls of the dark, potent wine before handing over the bottle to him.

"Welcome to Mineral Town, Jack."

Giving him a playful smirk, she turned and jumped right into the water. Popuri squealed and giggled as cool water from the splash licked at her bare legs. She performed a little hop-skip-dance to try and shake the cool beads off of her skin. She then hesitated at the edge, contemplating the glassy, ominously dark surface before finally jumping in herself. The girls laughed, splashing each other as Jack stood, watching in disbelief and drinking from the bottle of wine.

"Come in!" Popuri called to him in her melodic, childlike voice.

"Yeah! Get in here!" Karen laughed, splashing water in his direction.

Jack opened his mouth to ask if the water was cold, but closed it, deciding otherwise.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Thank you for the reviews so far! I always appreciate feedback and support.


	3. Chapter 2: Three Surprises

**Chapter Two  
>Three Surprises<strong>

As the days rolled by, the crops slowly but surely began creeping through the soil, erupting like little green flames from the earth. Jack tended to them with great care and spent much of his off-time devouring the old dusty books on the shelf that taught him everything from intermediate to advanced crop growing, the basics of livestock, and even his role as a farmer in food logistics. It was all pertinent information, though he admittedly found it rather dull.

The rest of his off-time was spent at the bar at the Inn. The people there were fascinating; he'd met Gotz, an incredibly gruff man who was a woodcutter and constructed buildings in the town. He told Jack all about the things he could do to upgrade the buildings on his farm once Jack had turned enough profit from the farm to afford the luxury of expansion. Jack also spent a considerable amount of time with Duke, Harris, Kano, and Louis on the few nights that Karen hadn't shown up at the bar. Harris seemed to always be complaining about how little happened in Mineral Town, though Jack couldn't blame him. It seemed the only real police-type duty Harris ever got the chance to do in that town was spy on Won, of whom wasn't even very exciting. Kano was an odd fellow, regal, and boasted often about his profession as town photographer. He did one day bring in an old photo album displaying some of his best pictures he had taken over the years, including one of Jack's grandfather several decades ago that Jack asked to keep at the offer of several drinks to which, surprisingly, Kano agreed. Duke was either a stubborn drunk or a stubborn man who was perpetually drunk, Jack couldn't tell. As long as he wasn't engaged in the competition of out-drinking one of the other villagers or in a heated card game match, he was lighthearted and always making jokes. He did often complain about his wife, Manna, but Jack couldn't blame him; it must have been hard being married to a woman who filled every moment of silence with her own voice. Jack suspected that Louis may have been mildly psychotic. Even setting aside the fact that the beekeeper looked out of his mind with his peculiar glasses, frazzled hair, and comical mustache, every time the man opened his mouth, it was to talk about bees or somehow relate the topic of conversation to his beloved insects. The way he went into such detail about the way bees pollinated the flowers was bordering on perverse and left Jack feeling a confused mixture of highly uncomfortable and slight, undeniable sexual arousal.

On the day of his first harvest – the potatoes had come in first – Karen had taken an otherwise scheduled day of work at the market off in order to accompany him on the farm. To say that she was much help in the actually harvesting of the crops would be an overstatement, but she did offer plenty of moral support in the form of seating herself on top of the shipping crate and sipping a mojito she had forced Doug to make her during off-drinking hours at the Inn in a large glass she had sworn a dozen times over to return by that night. Jack wasn't going to complain about having a beautiful woman in a long purple dress perched on his shipping crate and helping him fill the silence. He sifted carefully through the soil, unearthing the tuberous crops and piling them into a large metal bucket, his pride swelling a considerable amount each time he discovered an especially plump one.

"I think I want to go to the city someday." Karen had a dreamy tone. Jack didn't know if it was the subject or the alcohol beginning to do its job on the girl.

"Oh yeah?" he called back to her, wiping a few beads of sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand. He probably should have at least attempted to get in better shape before actually coming to Mineral Town. Regardless, he could already feel himself slowly getting stronger in just the few weeks he had been on that farm, though at the price of chronically aching muscles that kept him up some nights. "Have you never been outside of Mineral Town?"

"Well, I have… I mean, I've been to other towns on the island, but I've never actually gotten off the island."

Jack couldn't even imagine living his entire existence in such a small, isolated place like Mineral Town. In some regards, he supposed he was grateful for his father having never gotten along with his grandfather and having left Mineral Town for the city as soon as he had turned eighteen. Otherwise, Jack very well could have been born in Mineral Town and spent his entire existence there. Then again, that's what many of the residence of the town had done and they all seemed perfectly happy – or at least normal with the typical kinds of problems people had no matter where in the world you went. Still, knowing what Jack knew about the world outside Mineral Town, he found it hard to swallow the idea.

"Maybe I'll take you to the city someday." Jack looked back at her, chuckling.

Her eyes went wide as she leaned forward on the crate. "You can't just joke about things like that!" she scowled. "Promise me!"

Jack smirked, "Alright, alright. I promise."

Karen lifted her pinky in the air. Jack shook his head, standing and wiping his dirt-covered hands on his jeans as he walked over to her. He hooked his dirt crusted pinky with her particularly soft finger.

"Promise," he insisted with raised eyebrows before unhooking their fingers and walking back over to his place in the field.

"You know, you can't break a pinky promise." She sounded so sure of herself, amused, as if he had just unwittingly entered into some kind of legally binding arrangement.

"What are we, five?" He unearthed several more potatoes and placed them into his bucket.

"No, but you promised," she took another sip of her drink, swinging her legs and watching him toil away intently.

"Yeah, yeah, I promised," he mumbled to himself. Just the thought of going back to the city made a knot begin to form in pit of his belly.

* * *

><p>They say bad things come in threes; for Jack over those two days, surprises came in threes.<p>

The first surprise arrived at his door one sunny, mild spring morning. Jack had just begun the first harvest of his cabbages which, despite having little frame of reference, he believed had come in quite nicely that year. It was the old man Barley, looking particularly distraught, and accompanied by a small, young foal on a bright red lead. Now, to say that Jack had little experience with horses would be a brash understatement. In actuality, Jack had had only one substantial encounter with a horse. It was with his Grandfather's horse when he was very young and it involved being bitten on the arm. To be fair, this event was not as vicious and dramatic as Jack would have claimed it to be if ever asked, but it certainly was enough to instill a strong fear and general mistrust of horses into the young farmer. He had not been near a horse since, and actively avoided them for the most part.

So when the old man appeared asking Jack to take care of the horse and raise it in the hopes of one day riding it in the town's apparent annual horse race, Jack was a little more than hesitant. He eyed the foal, wondering what demonic scheme it must have been plotting there, looking oh-so perfectly 'innocent' and cute. Jack knew better. Jack knew it would grow up to be larger than him and probably cost him at least a finger or several toes. But Barley, so old and looking utterly despairing, insisted that he simply did not have room for the horse on his ranch. Jack knew what happened to horses that people had to give up: they became the adhesive for a five year-old's glitter infused craft project. Call him soft but reluctantly, Jack agreed. He had an empty stable on the farm and perhaps if he could just feed it from afar and stay out of its way, his beloved appendages could be spared.

"Well alrighty then! What are you going to name him?" The old man was thrilled. Jack locked gazes with the foal in a sort of one-sided, all-in-his-head-stand-off.

"Lucifer. His name is Lucifer," Jack announced suddenly.

Barley's face fell.

"Lucifer…? Err… As in…" The old man paused, scratching his chin and staring at the adorable, doe-eyed foal, then seemed to decide it wasn't worth it. "Alright then."

And just like that, Jack was suddenly the not-so-proud parent of a beautiful but presumably menacing foal. After Barely had left, Jack spent a considerable amount of time just staring at the juvenile horse, not particularly sure what he was supposed to do with the thing. To his dismay, the foal quickly took to grazing on some of Jack's beloved unharvested cabbages. He shouted obscenities, waving his arms frantically but not daring to get to close to the beast. Lucifer took the hint, cantering away from the crops and taking to the measly grass around the perimeter of the field. Jack made a mental note to speak with Karen about growing some proper grass.

The seond surprise came the following day. Jack had awoken to rain. It was heavy, pouring with such force on the roof that the noise it produced had far surpassed a gentle ambience and entered territory daring to call itself disconcerting. He appreciated the rain though; it meant he didn't have to water the crops for the day and it would be some time before the cucumbers and the next harvest of turnips had finished growing in. Rather than be productive, Jack spent his afternoon glued to the television, flipping mindlessly between the only four channels the village had to offer – one of which being a channel consisting entirely of static which admittedly had begun to be entertaining in and of itself after about the fifth hour and fourth watching through of everything the 'entertainment channel' (which could hardly deem itself as such) had to offer for the day, repeated in an infinite, mind numbing loop. There was really no telling how long Jack could have gone on like that, cycling through those same four channels mindlessly and facing an inward dialog of yet another mild existential crisis as to why the hell he decided to move to such a remote, isolated location.

The distraction came in the form of a loud neigh from Lucifer outside, barely audible through the sound of raindrops which resembled more the pitch of lead bullets falling from the sky. Jack muttered something about glue under his breath, deciding just to ignore the noise. It came again. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Jack clambered to his feet, throwing open the door. There was Ann, standing in the pouring rain by the barn and petting the foal fervently. She was soaking wet, her maroon sweater drenched to an almost black and her ponytail looking particularly dejected and weighted with water.

"Jeez, Ann, are you crazy? What the hell are you doing in the rain?" Jack shouted from the doorway. The redheaded girl turned around, a vicious scowl taking the place of her usual cheerful smile.

"You know, you're supposed to put horses in the stable when it rains!"

Jack stood there, suddenly feeling an overwhelming sense of embarrassment and guilt.

"Yeah… I, uh… I don't know much about horses," he admitted, braving the first steps into the rain and instantly feeling the water beginning to soak into his black shirt. He approached the girl, walking beside her as she led the foal to the stable, taking care to maintain some sort of distance between himself and the beast. After ensuring the so-called demon horse was settled in the significantly drier, warmer stable, she quickly followed Jack back into the house and out of the rain.

"What made you decide to come over on a day like this?" He lifted an eyebrow, watching as Ann pulled off the sopping wet sweater that clung to her petite body. She draped it across one of the dining chairs, adjusting her navy blue shirt which had also become slightly drenched beneath the soaked sweater. It was a good thing Jack kept the house considerably warm at all times.

"I heard you got a horse. I came to see it!"

Apollo had pranced over, tail wagging as Ann bent down to pet him

"Good thing I did, too," she added in a mutter as she scratched the dog behind his ear. Apollo was a sucker for just about anyone who wasn't Jack, always laying on the charm nice and heavy to get as much attention as he could milk out of any stranger. Jack was quite sure he was a terrible guard dog; he'd undoubtedly try to sucker a robber into rubbing his furry belly and giving him a treat. Against other dogs he was ruthless, but people? He was a giant bowl of mush.

"Yeah… You're not… Going to tell Barley about that or anything, are you?" Jack was standing in the kitchen, fumbling with the tea kettle.

Ann took notice, walking over and shooing away the young man with one simple dismissive hand gesture. Jack blinked in surprise, but didn't protest, walking back over to sit at the table.

"No, I suppose I can forgive you this one time," she giggled as she filled the tea kettle, rummaging around in the cupboards for a moment until she found two slightly chipped mugs and some teabags.

"So, what's his name?"

Jack blinked, "Whose?"

"The horse's, silly!"

"Oh… It's Lucifer."

Ann glanced back at Jack from over her shoulder, scowling disapprovingly. Jack only shrugged – a typical response from him. Luckily she did not press the issue. Walking over to the table as she waited for the water to boil on the old gas stove top, she took a seat across from him at the table.

"Getting used to the farm life?"

Jack shrugged again, pausing a moment to pick his words, "It's… different."

"How so?" Ann was staring at him with wide blue eyes. There was a naivety about her, rooted in emotion and weaved throughout her demeanor, that was beautiful; like a pristine porcelain doll that you hesitated to touch for fear of somehow cracking the milky white 'flesh', tainting it. Only this was something internal, something… not-so superficial.

"Just, _different_."

Ann appeared disappointed by his response, frowning slightly. How was Jack supposed to explain his life in the city to a girl who knew nothing of any life beyond that of Mineral Town? And why would he want to stain her perception of him so readily? It was too convoluted for a man whose words too often failed him.

"Tell me about this town," he smiled and she seemed to perk up, laughing at the question.

"That's vague. What do you want to know?"

"I don't know. About the people, I suppose. Who gets along and who doesn't? You seem to know everyone pretty well."

Ann laughed softly, resting one rough, faintly freckled cheek in the palm of her hand. "I shouldn't just go airing other people's laundry."

Jack put on a fake pout, "Please? For the poor, _lonely_ new guy? I have a lot of catching up to do here."

"Well… Let's see…" she mused, pursing her lips in thought before carefully mapping out the intricate connections between the villagers of Mineral Town for Jack.

"You know Rick, Popuri's brother. He's been best friends with Karen since… Well, since forever I suppose. And everyone knows he's in love with her, but she pretends not to know. She's too busy with Kai."

Jack blinked, "Kai?" He couldn't remember meeting anyone in the village by that name and Karen certainly hadn't told him about any 'Kai'.

"Oh, he only comes in the summer. You'll meet him in a soon. All the girls love him. Rick hates it. They're always fighting. He pretends it's because he doesn't want Kai around Popuri, but I think it's because he's jealous of him and Karen. Because they're… You know…"

"Fucking?" Jack asserted with a raised eyebrow. Ann giggled. He felt a twinge of… What was it…? Disappointment…? Jealousy? Peculiar.

"Anyway," she continued as she rose from the table, going to turn the stove off and pour the tea into the mugs as she explained, "Popuri's fond of the Doctor, but she's a little young for him, I think."

Jack suddenly remembered the night after the Goddess Festival with Karen and Popuri. It had been innocent enough, but he still needed to ask.

"She's… over eighteen, right?"

Ann blinked, giving him an odd look as she set down one of the mugs in front of him, resuming her place at the table.

"Yeah… She's eighteen. Why?"

"No reason." Jack casually sipped at his tea, burning his tongue to which he put great effort into not making known.

"Well… Mary and Gray used to date, but now Mary and Rick have been seeing each other, I think. At least, I see him at the library a lot and sometimes they come into the Inn for lunch together. I don't know. I could be misinterpreting it all. Elli's been after the Doctor for a long time now, but I recently saw her with Gray and they looked… cozy."

The lights began to flicker. They both looked up, concerned.

"Oh no…" Jack muttered, predicting exactly what came next. The lights went and the house instantly became pitch black. Jack mumbled a string of random obscenities under his breath.

"Just… continue. I know there's some candles and matches somewhere around here."

Ann laughed nervously in the dark as Jack rose from the table, going over to a couple cardboard boxes he had still yet to unpack – lazy as he was - practically tripping over one, and beginning to fumble blindly through them, going only by his questionable sense of feel.

"Let's see… I don't really know what else to tell you…"

"What about that guy… Um… What was his name…? Cliff?"

"Oh. Cliff," Ann paused for a moment, "He hasn't been here long. He's been staying at the Inn. He doesn't talk much. I try to talk to him, but he avoids me…" she sounded rather disheartened, "He could really use a friend or two, but I don't think he likes me. Maybe you can try?"

Jack struck a match and grinned proudly at his accomplishment. He set two large candles on the table, lighting them carefully.

"Yeah, I could do that, I suppose." Jack could already anticipate the awkwardness that would occur. Jack could tell by the brief encounter he had previously had with Cliff that there was a lot on the young man's mind, and surely in his past, that was being pent up. Why on earth Jack would ever be the one that Cliff might open to, he didn't know. But it was worth a shot.

"So then, what about you?"

Ann blinked, surprised, "Me…?"

"Yeah."

"Well… Karen's my best friend. I'm really close with Popuri too," she spoke a bit timidly, as if somehow talking about herself made her uncomfortable or perhaps anticipating what Jack was going to ask next.

"No men, then?"

Ann's cheeks turned a bit red, a blush barely visible through the dim candlelight that danced across her retrousse face. It was an unintentionally romantic setting, one that Jack might have been proud of had it been something he had actually planned.

Ann stared into her mug of tea. "No… I don't really date."

Jack pulled a face, an inference of disbelief, "Ever?"

"Well… I guess Gray and I had a thing… But that was a long time ago and it was really short. In fact, it barely even happened! Nothing worth mentioning, really."

Jack smirked. Ann caught his gaze and giggled into her tea as she sipped, embarrassed.

"I should go," she announced suddenly after a moment of silence had settled between them.

Jack frowned in surprise, "Are you sure?"

She was already getting up from the table hurriedly, though not seemingly upset. She was smiling. "Yeah."

"Here," Jack stood from the table, going back over to the cardboard boxes and digging through one for a moment. He produced a red umbrella, carrying it over to Ann.

"Are you sure? You don't have to go," he insisted. She laughed and shook her head.

"No, it's getting late." Taking the umbrella, she opened it, revealing a sizable hole in the fabric. They both chuckled at the sight.

"Sorry about that…" Jack mumbled. He walked her over to the door. She turned to face him one last time.

"See you at the Inn?" she asked cheerfully, head tilted curiously in what seemed to be a typical Ann fashion. Jack nodded.

"Sure."

Ann leaned in and lightly planted Jack's third surprise on his cheek in the form of a light kiss. She beamed at him innocently before turning, opening the door, and disappearing into the unrelenting rain.

"Well, that was odd…" Jack mumbled, blinking, statued in surprise.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>I _can't_ believe I switched up a character's name! Thank you to The Altrox for pointing that out to me right away. It's fixed now. That's what I get for writing in the middle of the night. I thought this was a necessary chapter to sort of establish the current standing of the different relationships in Mineral Town. Please rate and review so I know if anyone is following along.


	4. Chapter 3: The Vagabond

**Chapter Three**  
><strong>The Vagabond<strong>

Jack could count the times he had been to church on one hand - two of those probably didn't even count considering they were funerals - so stepping into the Mineral Town church for the first time was a little nerve-wracking for the novice farmer. Something about churches he found ominous and something about religion he found contrived. Perhaps it was the vastness of the buildings with their high vaulted ceilings and the dim, eerie lighting that set him on edge. This church was no different. The rows of pews were empty save for one lonely being, gaze cast down to his feet. Jack was thankful not to see the pastor in at the moment for fear that he may ask about the new foal the farmer had acquired. Things would surely get a bit awkward then. Jack quietly approached the young traveler, taking a seat beside him on the hard, wooden bench. How did people sit in those things for hours? You'd think they'd want to make worship as comfortable as possible.

"Hey Cliff."

"Hi." Cliff didn't look up. Jack could see the same distraught look on his face that he had seen at the Goddess Festival.

"Ann asked me to come check on you. She's worried about you, you know."

"Oh…" Obviously Cliff was not going to make this easy for Jack.

"She thinks you don't like her. She says you avoid her all the time."

Cliff's gaze shot up at Jack for the first time. He seemed surprised, even a little upset by this news. Becoming pensive for a moment, he then dropped his head back down, preoccupying himself with examining the abstruse texture of the wooden slats on the floor. Jack sighed softly, dropping his own gaze to his rather muddy shoes. A long silence fell between them.

"I like Ann," Cliff murmured so quietly that Jack had almost missed the sentiment completely. It was a simple statement, but Jack understood its weight.

"Oh…" He scratched his chin in thought. Ann's pulchritudinous face flashed momentarily in his mind. "Why don't you tell her then?"

Cliff just shook his head, "I can't."

Jack sighed again, leaning back against the pew. He admired the massive stained-glass window at the front of the church. It was ornate and intricate, depicting a beautiful turquoise haired Goddess in elegant, flowing robes with flowers of reds and yellows framing her heavenly silhouette. Jack had heard people talking about the Goddess in Mineral Town. They believed she lived in the pond beside the hot springs. They prayed to her when things when wrong and thanked her when times were good. Jack didn't understand it, but he didn't fight it either. He envied those who had faith. He thought sometimes it must have been easier for people to have someone else bearing the weight of the world with them.

"Tomorrow's Spring Thanksgiving," Cliff said softly. Jack glanced over, noticing Cliff too admiring the elaborate window.

"What's that?"

"It's… It's when you give a girl you like cookies, or something…"

"Then that's perfect. You can give Ann cookies tomorrow. You won't even have to say anything!" Jack grinned excitedly. His enthusiasm was clearly not contagious as Cliff remained stoic beside him.

"I don't know how to make cookies," he countered simply.

Jack shrugged, "That's fine. Neither do I. I'm sure with our minimal baking knowledge combined, we can come up with _something_." It was wishful thinking, really, but anything to try to get Cliff out of that church for once.

* * *

><p>The disaster that became of <em>operation: cookie making<em> was headquartered, of course, in Jack's tiny kitchen. There was no way the two young men were ever going to be able to figure out a proper formula for cookies without the help of a cookbook, so Jack set to work scouring the bookshelf which was filled to the brim with old books gathering dust that his grandfather had left. Cliff sat at the table, resuming his usual downward-cast demeanor.

"Ah, here's one," Jack announced proudly, pulling out a large, especially dusty blue book from the bottom shelf. He blew on it, sending the tiny particles flying off in every direction. Coughing as he carried the book over to show Cliff, he only barely lifted his head to glance at it. The title was scrawled in curly, handwritten letters, 'Recipes'. Simple enough. Jack opened the front cover, a puzzled look permeating his face at a handwritten note scribbled in the upper corner. It read:

'_James – _

_Here is a compilation of our favorite recipes I have collected throughout our years together. I hope you think of me whenever you prepare one._

_Always and Forever,_

_Elisabeth'_

Jack read the note over a few times, growing only more and more confounded. James was his grandfather's name. But who was Elisabeth? It certainly wasn't his grandmother. He thumbed through the pages of the old book carefully until a small black and white photo fell from tucked between the pages. It landed on the ground, face up. Picking it up carefully, Jack studied it for a moment. It was a young woman, about Jack's age. She was stunning, with long, dark curls and round, rosy cheeks. She was sitting on a bench, one that looked peculiarly like the one in the town square. In fact… Jack shoved the photo in front of Cliff's face.

"Doesn't it look like this girl is sitting on that bench in the square?"

Cliff looked up, studying the picture for a moment.

"Yeah… I mean, I guess so. That photo looks really old."

"Yeah…" Jack mumbled, retracting it to study it again himself. He flipped the photo over in his hand, observing the one word written on the back. 'Elisabeth'. It was his grandfather's handwriting, of which Jack recognized from the few letters they had exchanged over the years.

"Huh…" He walked over to the mirror that hung on the wall, lodging the old photograph in the corner of the frame so it stayed nestled in place. Carrying the recipe book into the kitchen, he laid it out on the table.

"Cliff, come here."

Cliff reluctantly obliged, standing from his seat at the table and ambling over to the farmer. Jack flipped through the musty old pages until he landed on a recipe for shortbread cookies. He glanced over the ingredient and directions.

"This looks easy enough. I'm sure we could pull this off." He pushed the book over to Cliff, who skimmed over the recipe and only shrugged. Jeez, he was worse than Jack.

Beginning to pull out the ingredients and cooking supplies they needed (the supplies of which all seemed to be at least 50 years old), Cliff started out measuring the flour. Jack decided to take this opportunity to attempt to open the mysterious traveler up a bit with some casual conversation.

"Why did you come to this town?" he asked with sincere curiosity.

"I dunno. Just… wound up here I guess," Cliff mumbled dismissively.

"How long have you been here for?"

"About… Half a year now, I think."

"Do you have any family? Don't they miss you?"

Silence.

Jack glanced over his shoulder from the butter he was measuring. Cliff was frowning, staring blankly at the flour that he had poured into the mixing bowl. Jack took this as a cue to quickly change the subject.

"Do you enjoy all the traveling?" Jack suddenly realized he had poured about double the amount of sugar into the bowl. He promptly set to trying to spoon some of it out, attempting to decipher flour from sugar. He glanced over at the handwritten recipe book, becoming a bit distressed.

"Yeah, I mean… I get to see a lot of places, I guess. Meet a lot of people. I get to learn all the different town customs. What was the city you used to live in like?"

Jack smiled, pleased that Cliff had provided more than just a minimal response.

"It's just… a completely different atmosphere. Busy. Dirty. Very crowded. Massive buildings. Lots of cars. Some people like it, but it's really just a mess. There's millions of people and no one really _knows_ anyone. Everyone's alone." Jack realized all at once how gloomy that had sounded.

"Is that why you left?"

Jack blinked, thinking the question over, "It's part of the reason, yeah."

Jack dropped an egg on the floor and it broke open with a comical splat. He cursed under his breath before going to fumble with the oven. Jack never cooked much for himself in the city. Food there was too easy to just throw into a microwave and be done with. He pulled out a baking sheet and the two young men began spooning globs of the sticky mixture onto the sheet, some dangerously too close to one another. The dough was too moist, sticking to their fingers as they attempted to nudge the concoction off the spoons, signaling (unsurprisingly) that something had gone awry in their endeavor. Jack suddenly thought of Karen. He wondered if he should give her some cookies for Spring Thanksgiving…

"Cliff, do you know who Kai is?" Jack inquired suddenly. Cliff looked over at him, confused.

"No… I've never met him. I've heard about him though. I guess he comes every year in the summer or something. Stirs up a bunch of drama and fights, apparently. I came in the fall last year, so I never met him. Why?"

Jack sighed softly, shaking his head, "No reason."

The cookies were put into the oven, which was probably about as old as the house and seemed very questionable to the farmer. Nonetheless, he felt accomplished as he sat down with Cliff and flipped on the television to watch what little the town stations had to offer them for the day. Jack looked at the young, scruffy traveler through the corner of his eye. The guy wasn't half bad, he just seemed to have a broken past, one that must have plagued him relentlessly. Jack's own past was nothing he'd want to go shouting from the hilltops in a jovial little musical number, but Cliff's seemed to be something unspeakable.

All at once, the sharp smell of burning food entered his nostrils. Jack leaped up from the table, rushing over to the oven and flinging open the door. A cloud of smoke billowed out of it.

"Fuck!" he snarled, snatching up an oven mitt and promptly pulling the tray of mangled looking cookies from the scorching heat. Cliff walked over to join him in the inspection. The two young men stood side by side, staring down with deadpan expressions at the mess in front of them.

"Well, maybe they don't taste so bad?" Jack suggested hopefully.

"I bet they taste like shit."

Jack frowned, "Yeah… me too."

They both sighed, beginning to scoop the half burnt and fully grotesque looking excuse for cookies onto the cooling rack.

"Maybe if you wrap them really nicely, she'll like them?"

"I doubt it."

"…Tell her it's the thought that counts?"

Cliff chuckled at this. It was the first time Jack had seen a smile on the man's face. He was just placing the cookies into a bag for Cliff when a knock came at the door.

"Who the hell could that be?" Jack muttered, glancing out the window to notice that the sun was beginning to set. The soft light poured through the window, washing the interior of his home in an assuaging orange hue. Shuffling over to the door, Jack opened it to see Karen. She was beaming widely and holding a large, black box with a bunch of cables and cords tangled haphazardly in her arms.

"Surprise!" she chimed before pushing past him and into the house. She spotted Cliff, the smile quickly fading from her face and replaced by a look of astonishment. "Oh, hi Cliff. I didn't know you were here."

"I… was just leaving," he mumbled tentatively, regressing right back into the hovel of his being that Jack had just worked so ardently to coax out. Cliff grabbed the cookies from the counter, walking past them and out the door without another word. Jack sighed, glancing over at Karen who was obviously feeling quite guilty.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was interrupting something. I didn't… know you guys were friends."

Jack chuckled, shaking his head,

"Yeah, something like that. And don't worry about it." He glanced at the large black box in her arms and raised an eyebrow, "Dare I ask?"

Karen laughed, holding up the box triumphantly, "It's a movie player! I found it in our attic. I brought movies!"

"Jeez, Karen. It looks like it's 50 years old."

Karen rolled her eyes, "They didn't _have_ movies 50 years ago, Jack."

Jack paused, opened his mouth to correct her, and then simply closed it, shaking his head. "What movies did you bring?"

Karen dumped her commodity on the table rather carelessly, causing Jack the flinch. He wondered how much damage the player could endure. It looked like a giant black brick. Karen held up two old movies. Jack took them, looking them both over. One looked like a low-budget horror movie with a mutated, repugnant looking monster ensnaring a beautiful, curvaceous redheaded girl. The cover was scrawled in large Japanese kanji. The second movie had a cartoon rabbit on it, surrounded by what were presumably his adorable animated animal friends. They were having a tea party. The text was in what Jack recognized as Russian or a similar eastern Slavic language.

"Karen… These movies aren't even in English. And these animals are drinking tea."

She shrugged, hauling the movie player over to the television to begin assembling it all together.

"They have subtitles," she assured him as she began fumbling with the wires.

"Alright," there was a distinct amount of skepticism as he shuffled into the kitchen and began rummaging through the cupboards until he produced an unopened bottle of whiskey.

"Who's that?"

Jack glanced over to see Karen staring at the photograph tucked into the corner of the mirror.

"I dunno," he admitted with a shrug.

Karen looked up, spotting the whiskey bottle in his hand. Her green eyes went wide as her face lit up like a child's on Christmas morning. Jack laughed, bringing the bottle and two glasses over.

"All set up?" Jack nodded to the movie player on the floor.

"Yup!"

Setting the bottle and glasses down for a moment, Jack went over to his bed, pulling off the mess of blankets and pillows he crawled greedily into each night. He spread them out on the floor, arranging them carefully as Karen popped the horror movie into the player, fumbling momentarily with the buttons until it came on the screen in all its abominable, overly-dramatic glory. Jack flipped off the lights, walking over to take a seat beside Karen on their makeshift lounge on the floor. He twisted open the whiskey bottle, pouring two full glasses of the fiery liquid.

"Cheers," Karen raised her glass.

"Cheers," Jack mimed as he tapped her glass lightly with his own before they both sipped the potent elixir. Karen settled back against a pillow. She glanced at Jack suddenly.

"Why does it smell like… burning cookies in here?"

Jack laughed, "Tomorrow's Spring Thanksgiving."

"Oh, yeah… I forgot. I hate sweets," she announced offhandedly, turning back to watch the movie. All Jack could think was how glad he was to have decided _not_ to attempt to endow her with cookies the following day, and poorly made ones at that. They settled into silence as the movie played. Things never felted awkward or forced with Karen, which Jack appreciated. She seemed very down-to-earth, intelligent, but her spontaneity kept her fresh and never boring. She was so self-assured, unlike most women her age. Something about her reminded him of Penelope – before she turned into a complete insufferable bitch, of course. Plus she was a beautiful girl who loved the bottle. How could he resist? But why didn't she ever say anything about Kai to him? Ever since Ann had told him, it had been running through his mind. Jack had never even heard Karen say his name before, much less announce that they were 'together'. He got the impression from Ann that they were casual to say the least, but it still seemed to be a consistent, ongoing affair. To claim it didn't bother him at all would have been a stark lie.

* * *

><p>Jack awoke the following morning on the floor of his own home with a splitting headache and saliva so thick and tacky in his mouth that the texture alone made him want to vomit. He groaned, struggling to lift himself in a sitting position. Karen was asleep beside him, a tangled mess of blonde hair hiding her face. She stirred slightly, lifting a hand to attempt to brush some of the hair from her face. Jack would have laughed at the sight had he not been wary of the churning feeling in his stomach. Karen looked up at him through one eye, squinting against the light from the morning sun that illuminated the room.<p>

"Morning," her voice was hoarse. Jack smiled. Climbing to his feet, he noticed the whiskey bottle on the floor, about a quarter of the liquid still remaining. He bent down slowly to retrieve it, then set it down right in front of Karen's face, about an inch from her nose.

"Happy Spring Thanksgiving, Karen."

A smile crept across her lips as Jack turned, dragging off to go attempt to revive himself with a long, hot shower before carrying out another long day of farm work.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> As always, review to let me know if you're following along or have any feedback/suggestions for me! I always appreciate them.


	5. Chapter 4: Manna's Lament

**Chapter Four**  
><strong>Manna's Lament<strong>

The temperature in Mineral Town was at a steady incline. Summer was fast approaching the tiny village and though it was still a ways off, they could feel it in the air. The people had begun to spend more time outside as the Goddess' divine intervention - or perhaps simply the natural flux of the seasons - blessed them with an increasing number of sunny days. The crops had been coming in beautifully and without incident. The harvests were long but the profits he'd been turning over were encouraging and kept the farmer focused and driven. In his time off from the fields, Jack was drawn to the beach many of these days, accompanied typically by his lazy canine companion, Apollo, and Cliff. The ocean's glassy water was still far too cold to even fathom taking a dip in, but it was warm enough for the young men to perch themselves on the old wooden dock with a pair of fishing rods, attempting to reel in an awe-inspiring catch but always seeming to come up short. Their inadequacy didn't seem to bother either of them, however. They seemed to enjoy each other's company, even if much of it was primarily comprised of silence. Jack appreciated that; he never felt the need to fill the void with careless words about things he had little interest in. There were some days when even Gray would slip away from his grandfather's iron grip to join them on the dock in quiet reflection.

When Jack and Cliff did converse, it was lighthearted. Cliff was slowly up surely beginning to unravel for him, cracking jokes and telling stories about his travels. The farmer had quickly learned not to press into Cliff's past or try to pry the traveler open. If Cliff wanted to reveal anything about himself, he would do it on his own terms; there was nothing Jack, nor Ann, nor anyone else for the matter was going to get out of him by linguistic force or cunning manipulations. The two discussed topics such as politics, the people in the village, their general affinities and aversions, as well as their aspirations. Cliff wanted to be a nuclear engineer. Jack wanted to be an astronaut. Both men spoke in actualities - avoiding though not repressing the unspoken acceptance of the notion that perhaps when their parents had told them they could be anything they wanted when they grew up was not precisely true.

It was the end of another afternoon on the dock and Jack and Cliff were walking together in the direction of Jack's farm. Jack was carrying an old tin bucket containing their measly catches of the day, none surpassing more than five inches long. As they approached the vineyard of the Aja Winery, Jack could hear the distinct sound of distant shouting. He slowed his pace before coming to a halt. Cliff did the same, turning to give his friend a puzzled look.

"What?"

"Do you hear that?" Jack was looking around as if trying to visually pinpoint the source of the noise, an impossible feat. Cliff stared at the ground, concentrating.

"Yeah," he said after a long moment. Jack slowly resumed walking, attempting to see if the noise would get any louder. It did. Finally, he realized: it was coming from inside the winery.

"Come on," Jack whispered to Cliff, as if someone would hear them on the completely deserted road. Jack led Cliff over to the winery, standing at the bottom of the steps. The shouting was much louder now. Jack could differentiate between Duke's low, bellowing shouts and Manna's shrill, hysterical shrieking.

"Should we do something? They're really going at it." Jack was looking frantic.

Cliff lowered his head. "No… I don't think it's a good idea—" He trailed off as he watched Jack set his bucket down, cautiously climbing the steps to ease closer to the door in an attempt to decipher the basis of the argument inside.

Jack could hear Manna's loud wails, Duke screaming something about insolence and absolution of blame (far less eloquently put and riddled with obscenities), and from time to time the sound of shattering glass. Jack stood there, ear practically pressed against the door, in a complete state of ambiguity. He turned to look over his shoulder to Cliff and all at once realized that he was nowhere to be found. Just as Jack was turning to look back at the door, it swung open with such force and in such close proximity to Jack's face that his life nearly flashed before his eyes in one single skipped heartbeat. In the doorway towered Duke, utterly seething. His eyes were wide and violent, his jaw clenched so tightly that the muscles in his cheeks protruded to a point of observation. Jack suddenly became hyperaware of just how big of a man Duke was. He stared down at the farmer.

"It would do you best to learn not to listen in on other people's _private_ conversations, boy," Duke was shouting so loud that Jack wondered if the blacksmith next door could hear him.

Jack remained silent, not exactly knowing what to say. On one hand, he wanted to remind Duke that it wasn't in good form to scream, throw things at, put your hands on, and just generally be an insufferable bastard to your wife. On the other hand, Jack greatly valued and feared for the esthetically pleasing arrangement of his face and doubted it's resilience against Duke's fist.

Luckily for him, Duke didn't stick around to argue. He pushed past Jack, knocking the young man back a bit as he stormed down the steps of the winery and off in the direction of the Inn, presumably to go drink himself into a coma. Jack lingered in the doorway for some time, staring off in the direction that the man had rushed off. When he finally turned his head to inspect the inside of the winery, he spotted Manna, crumpled against one of the walls. The floor was littered with the glass from countless broken wine bottles, and wine pooled all over the hardwood floors.

"Oh my God…" He uttered breathlessly, stepping cautiously into the house. Manna's face was buried in her hands, uncharacteristically silent save for an occasional muffled sob. Jack approached her slowly, kneeling down in front of her. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? He had always been shit with words, especially when they were important, when he needed them most.

"Are you alright?" his voice was gentle, as calm as he could muster in the situation, but riddled with concern.

Manna slowly lowered her hands from her face, looking up at the farmer with wide, moist eyes. There was a cut just below her right eye; not deep enough to warrant stitches, but painful-looking enough to cause Jack to wince at the sight. It was ironic that the onetime Jack actually wanted to hear Manna speak, she had suddenly fallen mute.

"Fuck. Er, sorry… I mean… That looks painful."

Manna didn't respond. He helped her to her feet, pulling one of the chairs at her dining table out for her to sit in. She obliged without words. Jack didn't know what to say and he had never been good with words. Instead, he went to her kitchen, grabbed the first clean glass he saw and filled it with water from the tap. He brought it back to her and set it down on the table in front of her. He stepped carefully through the shallow ocean of wine on the floor, poking around until he found a cramped laundry room. He then grabbed several cleanly folded towels, carrying them back out.

"Is it alright if I…? I mean, they'll get ruined."

Manna looked up from the water she was sipping, "Yes, it's fine." Her voice was hoarse from either too much yelling or too much crying – probably both.

Jack began sopping up the wine on the floor, soiling the white towels. When he was satisfied, he abandoned them in a pile, silently and inappropriately musing over what a shame all that wasted wine was. He took a seat in the chair adjacent to Manna. They sat in silence for a while, neither making eye contact.

"Do you want me to take you to the see Doctor Trent?"

"No."

Another long, pensive silence. Finally, Jack sighed.

"Is he always like that?"

She shook her head.

"No, not always. He's just very argumentative and stubborn, especially when he drinks, so we fight a lot, ever since Aja – our daughter – ran away to the city four years ago. It's all Duke's fault! He'd just drink and drink and picks fights and break things and Aja had enough and she just left! Just stormed right out of the house and we never saw her again! And once she was gone, Duke's drinking only got worse. And he takes out all his anger and frustrations and sadness over Aja being gone on me! As if this was all _my_ fault. He says that if I had done more to make her stay, if I could have been a better wife and mother, then she'd still be here. He never takes any responsibility for anything! Sometimes I wonder why I married him! I mean, I was young and I thought I was in love, and, well, then I got pregnant with Aja and I felt like I didn't have any other choice. What's a girl to do when she's only seventeen and winds up pregnant from an older man? I mean, it was such a scandal! I was the talk of the town for months! I _had_ to get married, because that's the honorable thing to do, but I didn't realize I was marrying such a hotheaded, alcoholic bastard!"

Jack watched Manna as she carried on her monologue, opening his mouth occasionally to speak when he thought she had finished only to be thwarted by her erratic train of thought. When he was quite sure she had finished speaking, he proceeded.

"You haven't heard from your daughter in four whole years?"

Manna bit her lip, wiping a tear from her cheek. "Every once in a while we get a letter from her." Manna stood from the table, going over to a shelf against one wall and coming back with two envelopes. She set one down in front of Jack. Picking it up, he inspected the front. Their names and address were scribbled on it, but where a return address would be was left blank. Jack's eyebrows pulled together as he pulled the letter out carefully, unfolding it and glancing over the handwritten words. At the bottom, she had signed her name, Aja Victoria Feaser.

"She never gives us any hints about where she is or anything! She talks about living in the city and she says that she's happy and she misses us but she doesn't want to come home and we can't send her any letters or call her or anything if we don't know where she is! I still write letters to her, but I can't even send them. What am I supposed to do?"

Jack looked up from the letter in his hands. Manna was staring at him with a desperate expression. He inferred from her silence that she hoped for an answer and that that had not been a rhetorical question.

"I don't know…" he admitted softly. She set the other letter down on the table in front of Jack. He picked it up. The envelope was blank.

"A letter to her?"

Manna nodded gloomily, "She's about your age now. She's 21."

Jack stood suddenly from the table, the quickness of his movements causing Manna to gasp softly. "Manna, I know this is strange, but can I hang on to this letter? This one that you wrote here?"

Manna's eyebrows furrowed, "Well, yes, I suppose that's fine… But I don't kn—"

"Are you going to be alright by yourself?"

Manna blinked, confused by the question for a moment before nodding. "Oh yes, of course, Jack. I've been married to Duke for almost 22 years! I mean, if I wasn't ok, I guess I would just go over and see Sasha because whenever I'm feeling blue or need to talk I alwa-"

"Alright. I'm sorry, I just realized something. I really need to leave." He walked quickly over to the door, letter in hand, lingering for a moment to glance back at her, "If you ever need anything, just let me know, alright Manna?"

She nodded gratefully as Jack disappeared from the doorway. He set off in the direction of the Inn, snatching up his bucket of pathetic fish. Duke would surely be there still, which would make for some awkward glances. But Jack didn't care. He had an idea and he needed to execute it before he forgot, or worse – before he became too lazy to do it.

* * *

><p>Pushing through the doors to the Inn, Ann spotted him immediately from the table she was waiting.<p>

"Hey Jack!" she called in her typical cheerful voice. Jack ignored her and marched right over to Doug behind the bar.

"Can I use the phone?" He gestured towards the ancient box at the end of the table that acted as the only working phone in all of Mineral Town. Doug nodded.

"'Course. It costs some change though, m' afraid."

Jack walked over to the phone, digging through his pockets for any loose change. He produced a couple coins as well as a fair amount of lint. Quickly he shoved the money in, fingers clumsily pressing a long string of numbers. He leaned against the wall as the phone rang, catching sight of Duke who was seated at a table in the back corner on the opposite side of the Inn. He was staring right at him. Suddenly, a voice came crackling through the terrible reception of the phone.

"Hello?" It was a man's voice.

"Uh, hey Kevin, it's Jack," he spoke softly, almost in a whisper, to ensure that no one could overhear what he was saying – especially Duke.

"Jack! Hey, what the fuck, man? Everyone's been wondering where you went. Penelope's been losing her shit!"

Jack groaned, "Don't even _say_ her name, I don't care. I moved, pretty far away. I'm gonna be gone for a while."

"What…? Are you fucking joking me? Why didn't you tell any of us! We would have at least thrown you a going away party! We would have bought you strippers! Hookers, maybe!"

"Yeah, well, as tempting as that would have been, I'm really just calling because I need a massive favor from you. Would you help me out?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"I need you to look up the address of a girl. I'm sure Pete can help you out if you're too dimwitted to do it yourself."

Kevin laughed, "Just tell me her name. I'll do my best."

"Yeah, it's Aja – A-J-A – Victoria Feaser. That's F-E-A-S-E-R. She's 21 years old. I'll call back tomorrow. Don't just go get high and forget. This is really important. Do you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah, I _got_ it Jack. Don't worry about it!"

"Alright. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Jack slammed the phone down, picked up his bucket of fish, took one last look at Duke, and walked straight out of the Inn. They may not have had the means to find a person's information in Mineral Town, but in the city, they certainly did.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>As always, review to let me know if you're following along or have any feedback/suggestions for me! I always appreciate them.


	6. Chapter 5: Letters to Aja

**Chapter Five**  
><strong>Letters to Aja<strong>

_Aja,_

_I don't really know how to begin this letter. I don't know you and you don't know me. My name is Jack Harper and I'm the grandson of James Harper, the elderly gentleman who ran the farm in Mineral Town. My grandfather passed away recently and I moved here to the village to take over the farm and try to restore it. I don't mean to frighten you with this letter. I know you ran away to the city years ago and I too now know what it's like to run away from a life you desperately don't want to live anymore. I have not and will not tell your parents that I have your address. I won't tell them where you live or that I have spoken with you at all. I am writing because your parents suffer in your absence. Your mother suffers at the hands of your father because your father suffers with the guilt of your leaving. Your parents do love you, I see it myself, and I know that it would mean everything to your mother if you would allow her to speak to you. She writes you letters but she doesn't know where to send them. I've included with this letter one of the letters she wrote._

_Please don't hesitate to respond, to me or to your mother._

_Jack Harper_

* * *

><p><em>To my darling Aja,<em>

_The sun is shining today. The town is getting warmer and the summer insects are buzzing in the air. The grapes are coming in nicely this year. I think it will be a good harvest come fall. Your father is well - or, as well as he can be in your absence. He works so much in silence. He is pensive, regretful. Some days I see him sneak off to the church in the early morning when no one but Pastor Carter is there. I do hope that he speaks to the Pastor, or at least to the Goddess. Even if she doesn't answer our prayers, it's something. He certainly doesn't speak to me; not about anything important, at least._

_I think I miss you most in the summer, Aja, when the leaves turn that dark, healthy green and burst at the vines. I remember you as a little girl, running through the orchard, laughing. The sun would catch in your beautiful dark hair. You reminded me of myself when I was a child, Aja. I would chase you and you would pull the white sheets from the drying line and wrap yourself in them to try and hide. I would pretend I didn't see you until scooping you up tightly in my arms and you would scream with giggles and we would land on the ground and get the sheets all muddy again, but I didn't care. You were so beautiful and full of life back then. You didn't have a care in the world._

_I spend so much time retracing our life together, wondering where it all went wrong. I try to tell myself that little girls grow up and grow away from their mothers; I like to think I did the best I could for you. But I sit here and I stare at this stack of letters I have written you and know that I am wrong. I miss you more than I can bear. Sometimes I think I am selfish for needing you here. I know you must be happy in the city, or at least happier than you were living here. But I can't bring myself to stop wishing you would come home, that you would just appear one day on our doorstep like you'd just been away on a few weeks vacation. And as time creeps by, I know the chance of that slips further and further away. But I still look for you, Aja, always. Sometimes I see you in the faces of the girls in this village, in your old friends. I watch them grow and I wonder how much you've changed in these past four years. But most of all, I wonder if you miss us and if you still think of us often. We miss you, always._

_Love,_

_Manna_

* * *

><p>Jack did not read Manna's letter; it felt like an invasion of privacy, like we was a voyeur of something so personal and intimate, it brought on a sense of shame rather than excitement. Instead, he simply slipped her letter into the envelope with his own. He didn't tell Cliff about Aja, he knew Cliff wouldn't have known her. He didn't tell Karen either, mostly for fear of what information might leak in a drunken episode. Jack did, ultimately, confide in Ann. The two sat at the end of the dock of Mineral Beach together, Jack clasping the letter in his hands, tightly but cautiously, with the stark realization of just how precious what he was holding was to someone else, someone who didn't know he was holding it at all. They were waiting for Greg, the dark-skinned fisherman who drove the boat of goods to and from Mineral Town each morning and evening with relentless commitment to the small city on the other part of the island. Jack didn't want to give the letter to Zack who usually collected his mail for fear that the man might tell Manna and Duke.<p>

"What was she like?" Jack was staring off at the beautiful sunset, picturesque over the vast ocean in front of them. It was the last day of the spring season. The following morning would officially mark the summer.

"She was nice. Very sweet, but very stubborn, just like her father. She was always really adventurous too, so we got along a lot. We'd always go up into the mountains and the woods or go explore the mines. But she wasn't happy here… Besides, she had… _things_ going on in her life."

Jack looked over at Ann who had begun awkwardly fiddling with the hem of her rolled-up jeans. A frown etched across his face.

"Ann, what do you mean '_things_'?"

"I mean, like… You know… _Harris_… things…"

Jack blinked, "You mean Harris the _police officer_? Ann, Harris is _old_!"

Ann laughed, nodding, "Yeah, I _know_. It was… complicated, I guess."

She was staring off in the direction of the sunset now. Jack sat in the long silence, appreciating the irony of a police officer engaging in a presumably sexual love affair with a girl who was technically a minor at the time. Who would arrest him, anyway? He was the only police officer in Mineral Town.

"I want to see her again. I hope she responds," Ann said finally.

"Yeah, I hope so too…" he mused softly. After a long moment, "Ann, do you think things are going to be different in the summer?" It was a vague question but Jack hoped Ann would see the real intent behind it.

"You mean when Kai gets here?" There was something about Ann, she could always read him like a book. It was almost freaky at times. She'd won many hands at poker against him simply by being able to tell through his bluffs with an almost perfect record.

"Yeah…"

Ann bit her lip in silent contemplation. "Things change when Kai comes around, I guess. Are you worried about not seeing Karen as much?" She wasn't looking at him. She had transfixed her attention on aimlessly throwing a few pebbles into the water. Jack didn't respond.

"She likes you, you know…" Ann said softly after a long moment. There was almost a slight hurt in her voice. Jack looked over at her, brows furrowed.

"No she doesn't. I mean, not like that…" he insisted and shook his head. Ann didn't speak; she only stared into the water looking slightly disheartened. "You know, she's never once even told me about her and Kai." Jack added resentfully.

Ann shrugged, "Jack, she never tells anyone about Kai. She didn't even tell _me_ at first, and I'm her best friend. I had to confront her about it. I think she thinks no one knows or something, but we all see it. They don't act like they're together in public, but they look at each other a certain way and… I mean, we all just know. I don't think Kai would tell anyone about it either. I don't think he wants to be serious with her. He's such a flirt; he probably just wants to keep his 'options open'." Ann laughed, tossing another pebble into the water. For some reason, what she was telling him was leaving a bad taste in his mouth, metaphorically speaking. He didn't understand why. Jack had never really been the jealous type before, not to mention that he and Karen weren't really even _together_. She was beautiful and a good friend to him, but she didn't _belong_ to him. The whole thing didn't even make sense to Jack.

"Do you think she'd want to be serious with him if she could?" he asked cautiously, afraid to hear the answer.

"I don't know… I mean, how serious can you be with someone who's on the other side of the world nine months out of the year? I don't think it'd ever work, even if they both wanted it to."

Jack thought suddenly of the day Karen had spoken about going to the city. He felt a slight lump in his throat. "Do you think she'd ever… go with him?"

Ann only sighed and shrugged, saying softly, "I don't know…" She seemed disinterested in the subject, or simply didn't want to talk about it any further. There wasn't a chance for the conversation to continue anyway, as Greg's boat appeared, puttering along slowly through the water.

"There his is," Jack smiled, nodding to the boat that was making its way towards them on the dock.

"Hey Jack, hello Ann," the elderly man called with a surprised smile.

"Hey!" They both waved in unison. As the boat arrived, Jack helped Greg tie it to the dock.

"Greg, I have a favor to ask you." Jack held out the letter to the old man as he climbed onto the dock.

He took it, turning it over carefully and reading the address on the front.

"It's very important that no one knows about this letter. That's why I wanted to give it to you in person. If she writes back, will you make sure to give the letter directly to me? I don't even want Zack to know." It was an inconvenience, but one Jack hoped the man would see the importance of.

Greg gave a reassuring nod, looking up at the farmer. "Yes sir, I'll do m' best, of course."

Jack smiled widely, "Thank you. I really appreciate it. Do you need any help unloading the boat? Ann and I would be happy to help you out."

Greg laughed, shaking his head, "No, no, looks like my help's arrivin' just now." He nodded in the direction of Zack, the body-builder-looking shipper who had appeared at the end of the dock.

"Hey!" Zack called cheerfully as he trotted down to them. Greg slipped the letter in his back pocket, catching Jack's gaze one last time and giving a silent nod, reassuring him that both the letter and the secret was safe with him. Jack smiled gratefully.

"Hey Zack," Jack smiled, patting the shipper on the rock-hard bicep.

"Hey Jack, Ann. What're you guys doing here?"

"Oh, just enjoying the sunset," Ann chimed, looking off at the sun which had been reduced to nothing more than a sliver of light on the horizon.

"How_ romantic_," Zack wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Ann turned bright red. "No!_ Not like that!_" she screeched loudly, unable to contain her embarrassment.

Jack just laughed. "We were just heading to the bar. I'll see you there tonight?"

"Sure thing," Zack nodded before climbing onto the boat and beginning to haul the massive crates of goods onto the dock with shocking ease.

"I'll see you around, Greg," Jack nodded, hoping he had conveyed just how grateful he was to the man.

"Bye, Greg!" Ann called as she followed behind Jack, walking back to the Inn.

* * *

><p>It was still too early for the Inn to be crowded with the nightly drinkers as the drinking hour had just begun. Karen and Rick were at their usual seats at the bar, seeming intent to get a head start on everyone else. Jack took a seat beside Karen as he waved to Ann who disappeared into the back kitchen to presumably get started on making the snacks they severed in the evening when the townsfolk drank.<p>

"Hey," Karen smiled, reaching over to tame a few locks of Jack's hair that were standing up in all different directions. She seemed unable to contain her excitement. Jack wondered if it was the alcohol or something else. Rick looked especially irritable at the moment.

"Kai comes tomorrow," Karen announced, seeming to no longer be able to contain her joy.

Rick huffed an exaggerated sigh. Jack felt a little like he was going to be ill.

Karen looked between both men's faces, laughing, "Well, alright then. I guess I'm the only one who's excited."

"You are," Jack muttered under his breath.

Karen looked annoyed. "You've never even met him!" she retorted.

"I've heard about him," Jack shrugged, trying not to sound as dismayed as he felt. Karen turned and punched Rick in the arm.

"Have you been telling him things?" she scowled.

Rick shook his head vigorously, "I haven't! I swear!"

"Alright…" Karen mumbled skeptically, glowering at her childhood friend.

"He just comes and messes everything up!" Rick complained, resting his chin in his palm.

Karen rolled her eyes, "He does not! He's a lot of fun, and he serves good food at the Seaside Lodge. He's a _nice guy_."

"Nice is one word for it…" Rick muttered. Jack chuckled at this.

Suddenly Cliff appeared from behind them, taking a seat beside Jack who smiled at his friend.

"Hey, man."

"Hi, Cliff," Karen smiled warmly. She was always trying to talk to Cliff but until just recently he'd always shied away. Something about Jack seemed to be coaxing the man out of his shell.

"Hey, guys," Cliff smiled meekly. Ann walked up from behind the bar, setting two cold frothy mugs of beer down in front of them.

"The usual!" She announced melodically. Cliff reached into his pocket to pull out his dues but Jack lifted his hand to stop him.

"I got it. Save your money." Reaching into his own pocket, he pulled out the sum of both men's drinks, plus a hefty tip for Ann. His first season of crops had been pretty successful, and being the last day of spring, Jack wanted to celebrate; besides, he knew that Cliff wasn't working and it couldn't exactly be cheap to be staying at the Inn when he had no income.

"Thanks, Jack," he smiled, sincerely gracious.

"Farm been treating you well, it seems?" Karen raised a playful eyebrow.

Jack laughed, shrugging, "Yeah. It was a pretty good season, I guess. For my first one, at least…"

Karen raised her glass. "To Jack's first season in Mineral Town!" she bellowed enthusiastically.

All three men raised their glasses in cheers, laughing.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> As always, please review so I know people are reading along. Let me know if there's any specific ways you think I can improve upon the story/my writing.


	7. Chapter 6: Keeping Secrets

**Chapter Six**  
><strong>Keeping Secrets<strong>

Kai crashed onto Mineral Town – as he did every summer – like a fallen satellite, sending ripples of drama and love-struck girls in his wake. He was tall dark and handsome in every sense of the expression; Jack had been warned about him, but he hadn't been prepared for what showed up at his doorstep on the first morning of summer. He was a pair of black boots, purple pants, white and brown shirt, deep russet skin, and a purple bandana – in that respective order. Jack resented him from the moment he opened the door and despised him from the moment he opened his pompous mouth.

"Kai." He flashed Jack a half-smile, reaching out his hand.

"Jack," the farmer responded flatly, shaking his hand out of no more than common decency.

"I run the Seaside Lodge on the beach in the summers. I heard you were new, thought I'd come introduce myself." He had a slight accent. Jack was certain this only added to his appeal for women.

"Yeah, I heard about you." Jack was desperately trying to ignore the bombastic look on Kai's face, an egotism that leaked into his manner of speech to exude a sort of perpetual charm that, as a male of strictly female pursuits, failed to leave him swooning and rather left him irritable and annoyed.

"Karen's been telling me all about you. Says she's been spending a lot of time with you since you got here. Thanks for keeping her company while I was gone." Kai reached out, nudging Jack playfully on the arm.

Jack momentarily contemplated snapping one of his fingers off – and almost did so when man winked at him as he turned to leave. Grinding his teeth furiously, he watched Kai disappear down the road with an equally pompous strut.

"_Bastard_…" Jack muttered grudgingly.

It wouldn't be so bad if Jack could just spend the entire summer season _avoiding_ Kai – it was just three months, after all – but Kai was so embedded in the lives of all of his new-found friends and unless he resolved to confine himself only to his farm for the entire summer, he had the feeling it wasn't going to be so easy. Everyone, besides Rick and himself, seemed to like Kai; why exactly was beyond him, but he was going to have to play nice, no matter how difficult that might become.

Unfortunately it became very difficult _very _quickly.

That day was yet another festival in Mineral Town (Jack had opted to skip the spring's Horse Race, citing as a conscientious objector though he really just wouldn't be caught dead at such an event in the off chance the horses formed an uprising and carried out a rage-fueled massacre; Lucifer remained safely contained in his stable that day). The first official day of summer had been deemed 'Beach Day' and involved everyone in the village flocking to the beach to celebrate the opening of Kai's Seaside Lodge. Jack would have probably opted out had it not been for the promise of getting to see all the girls of the village in bikinis – a prospect he just couldn't pass up. His celibacy had been becoming increasingly difficult. The last time he'd had any kind of sexual encounter with a woman had been with Penelope in the city and it wasn't exactly like he could look back on that with fond memories. He wondered how monks and the like did it; they must have gone insane. _He_ felt like he was going insane. He had an itch that he needed scratching and his own private moments were no longer sufficing for him. But who could he turn to? Kai was in town and Karen was occupied - not that he ever had the balls to do anything about it before. Ann was his good friend and the girl that his best friend liked. Mary had Rick and Elli had Gray and Popuri... well, Popuri just wasn't too bright. Jack didn't want to have to start going after the married women of Mineral Town, but at the rate he was losing his mind, he just might have had to.

* * *

><p>Three hours after the incident with Kai, Jack found himself lying on the beach in a pair of black swim trunks, propped up on one elbow. He was lounging on a massive blue and red blanket that had been sprawled out on the warm sand beneath a large umbrella to shade them from the direct sunlight. Cliff was sitting beside him, puffing away idly at a thick cigar that Doug had given him for one reason or another. After a few moments, he passed it over to Jack who, distractedly, took it. Jack was staring off at the ocean where Karen, wearing a small purple bikini, was thigh-deep in the water, her long golden brown hair picking up as a light breeze blew in.<p>

Kai was beside her.

Kai was splashing her.

Kai was wrapping his arms around her waist as he tried to pull her deeper into the water.

Karen was laughing.

Jack was ready to explode.

"You think you have it bad? _I_ have to live in the room next to him. I'm going to see him all the time."

Jack glanced up at Cliff, who was smirking, surprised by his comment; it wasn't like Cliff to make such critical remarks about other villagers, or at least say to them out loud. They both laughed. Jack puffed on the cigar, trying to distract himself with something else. He glanced around the beach. Everyone seemed so happy: wearing their summer clothes and bathing suits, chatting lightly amongst themselves, enjoying snow cones and ice-cold drinks, some seeking refuge from the sun under large umbrellas embedded in the sand and others splashing about in the water. Jack noticed Gray and Elli seated comfortably close, his arm around her waist as they laughed at something, perhaps a punch line to a joke that he was too far away to hear. Jack didn't often see Gray smiling like that. Over on the dock, Jack spotted Rick and Mary together, sharing a rapidly melting ice cream cone. Rick seemed distracted; he kept glancing at Karen, splashing about carefree in the water. Jack felt a sudden twinge of sympathy for Mary. Almost everyone in the town was there, and everyone – even if it was only for that day – seemed so optimistically bright. All Jack could think was how so unlike the city this town was…

"Hey boys!" Ann's familiar voice rang as she plopped down on the blanket beside Jack.

"Hey," the two men responded in unison.

She was wearing a black two-piece and had a bag of pretzels in her hand that she was munching away at. Jack admired the large, floppy black sunhat on her head, the few freckles that were scattered on her shoulders, then her breasts, respectively. This did not go unnoticed by Ann who, rather than being angry and smacking him on the arm as Jack would have anticipated from her, seemed to be slightly embarrassed and suddenly shy. She moved the pretzel bag inconspicuously in front of her chest. Jack cleared his throat awkwardly, then held up the cigar in offering to Ann. She stared at it for a long moment, contemplating. Finally, she took it gingerly from him.

"First time for everything, right?" Lifting the cigar as if to cheers them, she brought it to her lips.

She puffed lightly at it, paused, coughed out the smoke, and twisted her face in repulsion.

"Ugh! Ack! Why! That's so _horrible_!"

Jack and Cliff couldn't stifle their laughs. Cliff reached over Jack to take the cigar from her hand.

"Why do you even have that?" Her face was still scrunched in disgust at the lingering taste in her mouth.

"Your dad gave it to me," Cliff said with the shrug.

Ever since Spring Thanksgiving, Cliff had seemed to begin to open up towards Ann, at least enough to talk somewhat comfortably with her. Unfortunately, any sort of relationship hadn't yet seemed to progress any further and that.

"Jack! Jack!"

Jack turned his head to pinpoint where the distant voice was calling his name. He spotted Popuri, wading through the sand and weaving between the villagers scattered about the beach; she was wearing a little white cotton dress over her red swimsuit.

"Hey Poppy," Ann lifted her pretzel bag to offer the girl some as she approached.

Popuri shook her head politely, "No thank you," and turned to Jack, "I have a surprise for you." She had her arms behind her back and was swishing her dress back and forth coyly. Jack raised an eyebrow.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, follow me!" She turned again and started off towards the stairs leading to the Town Square. Jack glanced from Cliff to Ann as he stood up.

"Wonder what that could be..." he muttered with feigned sarcastic interest as he hastily pulled his jeans over his swim trunks.

Jack followed Popuri through the Town Square, her sandals _clop-clop-clopping _against the ground methodically with each step. She led him to her family's Poultry Farm and without a glance or word of explanation, disappeared into the chicken coop. Jack idled himself against the fence, watching the chicken pecking mindlessly at the ground. After a few moments, Popuri immerged from the coop, holding delicately in her hands a tiny, yellow little ball of fluff. Bringing it over to him with a beaming smile, she gently placed the chirping ball into his cupped hands.

"We – Rick and Mum and I – all thought it was about time you started keeping some animals on the farm, so we wanted to give you this chick that just hatched as a gift!" Popuri was gently stroking the chick's head with one fingertip.

Jack beamed down at the tiny chick, who stared curiously around. He didn't know what to say besides, "Wow. Thanks." His words surely failed to convey his sincere gratitude.

"Let's bring him to your coop!" Popuri chimed as she picked up a small tin bucket filled with yellow corn feed, sauntering off in the direction of Jack's farm.

* * *

><p>Back at the small coop on his farm, Jack set the little chick down as Popuri proceeded to explain how much food it would need each day and to always make sure it had water.<p>

"What are you going to name it?" Popuri's voice was characteristically high pitched and childish, though not necessarily annoying. Jack crossed his arms against his bare chest, staring at the small chick that was eating intently on the ground. Unlike horses, Jack was not afraid of chickens; therefore it would be receiving a much less resentful name than Jack's foal, Lucifer, had.

"Alectrona."

Popuri gave him a puzzled stare.

"Greek goddess of morning and awakening…? Because it's a chicken…?" Jack raised an eyebrow, obviously reaching. Her expression didn't falter. She clearly failed to see the cleverness in his naming.

"I heard Barley gave you a pony. Can I see it?"

Jack sighed and nodded, leaving the old chicken coop with the girl and leading her across the field, over to the stable. Popuri leaned on the locked gate of the stable, staring at the foal with saucer-sized eyes.

"Woooow…" she cooed. The horse, to Jack's dismay, had been growing rapidly since arriving on the farm.

"What's his name?" she glanced up at Jack curiously.

He hesitated, "It's… Lucifer," he spoke in quiet admission. Popuri only blinked her wide eyes.

"I would have named him… Honeysuckle," she mused quietly, staring back off at the horse who had taken to munching on a stack of hay.

Jack rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Of course you would have…"

If Ann was innocently naïve, Popuri's inherent childishness stemmed perhaps from attributes less endearing, less… forgivable. Density, maybe; inanity didn't seem too far off either. She was considerably short for her age and her young, round face with its doe-like eyes matched her demeanor to a point of almost being comical; Jack silently and inappropriately wondered if Harris had ever tried to make a pass at the girl. Her long, pinkish blonde hair was mounted in a massive bun high on her head. He stared at the girl's bare neck, admiring the downy wisps of hair at the nape that tickled against her skin which had taken on a slight reddish tint, presumably kissed by just a few moments too long of sunlight. Jack bit his lip. He thought of Karen, of Kai, and of the two in the water; he thought of Ann's lightly freckled face; he thought of the shattered look on Penelope's face the last time he saw her. When he thought of these things, he _felt_. But when he looked at Popuri, and he felt nothing. There was a kind of comfort, almost a safety in that. Lifting a hand, he placed his cool fingertips on the nape of her neck. Popuri look up at him with peaked curiosity, trying to decipher the look in his eyes, a look she had seen before but not in him.

"Jack…?" she murmured.

He moved his hand to brush a stray wisp of her hair from in front of her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. He leaned in slowly, cautiously, before pressing his lips gently to hers. She surrendered instantly, lifting a hand to place against his bare chest, her lips responding with impudence. Jack pulled away after a moment.

"Popuri?"

"Hm?"

"How hard is it to keep a secret in this town…?"

She stood up on her tiptoes, connecting her own mouth his in a silent, mutual understanding.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note: <strong>Ha! I want to apologize for the way I portray Kai and Popuri. I swear do love them both. As always, please review so I know if people are reading along.


	8. Chapter 7: A Brewing Storm

**Chapter Seven**  
><strong>A Brewing Storm<strong>

_June 23rd_

_Sometimes I don't know why I do the things I do. I guess a lot of things I do, I do just because I can. I'm selfish... impulsive maybe. I slept with the girl from the Poultry Farm next door. I did it because I could, because I wanted her in that moment. She was standing there, ripe for the picking, and I was greedy. She's fickle, childish, and dense. I liked that I could look at her and not care or feel any sort of attachment. Even if all the qualities that drew me to her in that moment were 'bad', I liked that she's everything Penelope wasn't... This kind of thing wouldn't be a big deal in the city, but since this is such a small town, I worry. And to top it off, it wasn't even good. She's cute in the face with a tight body but her abilities between the sheets seem directly correlated to her intelligence, which speaks volumes considering the girl is a complete moron. At first I actually felt kind of bad. I went by her place the next day to talk to her about it, make sure there were no hard feelings and that we're on the same page about it not meaning anything more than it was. It was about noon when I came by, she didn't see me. She was out in the pen with the chickens - more specifically, talking to them. It was a demented, mushy babble she was gushing to them that I swear teetered on erotic. I felt like I was going to vomit so I left. It's only been a few days, but I haven't seen her since. It's a new season so the farm's been keeping me busy and considering Karen's off bumping uglies with Kai (thinking I don't know), I haven't been going out much. It's a good thing too since I don't think I'm going to be able to look Rick in the eyes for a while and the only time I ever see the guy is at the bar with Karen. God, I just hope no one finds out... The only person I told was Cliff, and he spent the first ten minutes laughing at me and the next ten minutes making fun of me. Best friend or not, sometimes I think I liked it better when he didn't talk._

* * *

><p>Jack's shamed dalliance aside, summer in Mineral Town was proving to be serene. In the day the lady beetles and bumblebees seemed to come alive as an ambient symphony of cicadas tuned in perfect harmony filled the air. At night, the fireflies performed their intricate light show over the field of the farm, a spectacle that Jack had never witnessed in the city. The air was warm and thick, the soil and grass heated under the sun, high in the sky, unblemished by even the faintest lingering wisps of clouds. It was a new season which signaled a new batch of crops to be planted and tended as those from the spring that could not thrive in the summer needed to be replaced. Jack had made the decision to temporarily employ Cliff as a farmhand; the profits he had turned from spring were just enough to justify such an investment. It was a win-win situation: Jack would be able to grow more crops with Cliff's help and the young vagabond had been beginning to get dangerously low on cash found it was the perfect supplement to his dilemma. Cliff immediately proved to be an invaluable asset on the farm. He was a hard, diligent worker who never complained nor faltered in his duties. Jack gave the orders and Cliff obliged without incident and the farmer did his best to instill in him what knowledge he had gained about agriculture in the months since arriving on the farm. Cliff absorbed it readily, refracting it back with impressive aptitude. What resulted from their first few days of labor in the first official month of summer was a good portion of the vast field planted with an assortment of different fruit and vegetable seeds: corn, tomatoes, garlic, butter beans, cantaloupe, watermelon, soybeans, and okra.<p>

Their days were long, but there nights were worth the waits. Jack had been meeting Greg at the docks each day as the old fisherman puttered in on his boat to drop off the shipments from the city and exchange them with the day's exports back. Jack knew it was too soon to be expecting any letters from Aja and he trusted the elder to keep his word and deliver it only to him if she even decided to respond at all. But this didn't stop him from waiting on that warm dock, just as the sun was setting each day, with two beers from the Inn – still cold in the bottles – waiting to chat with the fisherman. Jack enjoyed Greg's company. He was wise and modest with a brain full of interesting tales about his youth. It wasn't long before Jack and Cliff had begun making requests to Greg for goods in the city. They paid in advance and added hefty tips for the man, scribbling their requests on slips of paper for him to take with him. They bought candy, packs of gum, a couple cartons of cigarettes, newspapers, and a few bottles of whiskey and vodka. Jack's most notable import from the city though was a large red radio. At night after the field had been tended, the new chick had been feed, and Lucifer had been brushed and cared for – a job that Jack had happily handed off to Cliff – the two men, often joined by Ann on nights she could convince her father to let her take off, would sit around on the farm house floor, barefoot and in shorts, the boys shirtless and somehow still sticky with sweat, the windows all pushed open in an attempt to cool the place off. They would play cards, drink their whiskey, puff away at their cigarettes (to Ann's dismay), and listen to the old radio through the slight but consistent static. Jack liked the world news. Cliff enjoyed classical. Ann had taken to classic rock of which she had never heard before. They listened to their preferences in shifts, never arguing or complaining. When they'd had their fill of whiskey, they drank vodka to sober up. It never worked. Sometimes when the booze hit hard, they would get up and dance – foolishly and dramatically – one by one until all three were engaged in a stumbling jive, dancing with each other, dancing alone, kicking cards and knocking over whiskey glasses, laughing until their sides ached and they collapsed back on the floor. Life in Mineral Town was beginning to feel pretty good.

On the fifth night of summer, the three were engaged in an especially intense game of go-fish in which Ann had been kicking both of their asses. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1 in B Flat Minor was pouring through the radio and the young men had already polished three glasses of whiskey that night; Ann was halfway through her first.

"Eights?" Jack was glowering at Ann who looked especially smug.

"Go fish!"

Muttering to himself, Jack picked up a card from the deck, arranging it strategically in his lineup.

"Hey, what are they doing across from the market? I've been seeing Gotz clearing out the brush there lately," Jack asked, glancing between both his friend's faces.

"Oh… You didn't hear about that?" Ann looked surprised.

Both young men shook their heads, confused. "Hear about what?"

"Well, Mayor Thomas has been talking forever about building some houses and small shops there. I think he wants some new people to move in and open up a few stores. He thinks it'll be good for the town's economy, I guess." She shrugged dismissively. J

ack and Cliff glanced at each other in disbelief.

"You mean the Mayor actually wants to _expand_ the town?" Cliff's brows furrowed.

Ann set her cards down, seeming to have lost interest; it was clear who the winner had been anyway. She pulled her bare legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. "Mhm. I didn't think he'd actually go through with it but it looks like he finally is. I guess Gotz's been collecting all the wood for the buildings for a while now. Saibara's been helping with the metal they need too." She was poking absentmindedly at a freckle on her knee.

The men surrendered their cards on the floor, leaning back in thought.

"You know, I hope they build a bakery," Jack mused, thinking of the giant, doughy cinnamon rolls he used to eat in the city. It was just one of the many things he was beginning to desperately miss, though he'd never admit it.

"I hope they build a movie theater," Ann said dreamily. Wishful thinking for such a primitive town.

"I want an arcade," Cliff chuckled.

"A theme park!" Ann chimed with growing enthusiasm.

"A strip club!" Jack grinned slickly.

Cliff burst into laughter. Ann picked up one of her sandals and threw it at the farmer's head with surprising accuracy.

* * *

><p>The following morning was unusually overcast. Bloated, garish clouds hung in the sky, threatening rain though the air still felt warm and humid. Mayor Thomas came by as Jack and Cliff were tending to the fields. He was looking especially frantic and distressed, his red top hat askew and a seemingly permanent frown plastered on his face.<p>

"Jack!" he called, causing the farmer to look up from the patch he was watering. He could instantly hear the panic in his voice. Setting the watering can down, he rushed over to the mayor, followed soon by Cliff. Even Apollo came over to sniff curiously at the mayor's shoes.

"Hey Mayor, what's going on? What's wrong?" His face was etched with concern.

"There's a typhoon coming! We get them here in the summers sometimes… Please, board up your windows and barns as soon as possible. It should be hitting tonight. If you go to Gotz's, he'll have wood ready for you and the other villagers. Please make sure that everyone's homes are secured. Some people might need help boarding up."

Jack nodded in understanding as the frazzled mayor turned and rushed off in a comical type of waddle that he would have laughed at had the circumstances not been what they were.

"Come on." Jack motioned for Cliff to follow as the farmer set off in the direction of the woodcutter's. He'd never been in a typhoon before; they didn't get them in the city where he grew up. It might have even been exciting if Jack hadn't been inwardly agonizing over his crops and to what extent they would be affected by the sudden storm.

Gotz's was already busy by the time the two arrived; townsfolk, mostly the men, were gathering planks and sheets of wood from large piles, the tension and nerves already thick in the air.

"Hey Doug, Ann," Jack called as he and Cliff approached.

The redheaded father and daughter turned around, Doug forcing a nervous smile. "'Ey, boys," he spoke in his usual gruff tone.

"Jack, why don't you stay over at the Inn tonight during the storm? There'll be quite a few of us and there's plenty of extra rooms. No reason to stay at home alone," Ann smiled meekly through her concern.

The farmer considered this for a moment, shrugging, "Yeah, as long as Apollo can come." Jack knew that Kai would most likely be staying there during the storm as well, but he hoped for the off chance that he'd decide to lock himself up in his Seaside Lodge instead. Maybe it would collapse in the storm...

"Great. You all just come by before it hits. We'll be locking up the doors with the chain," Doug said. They nodded in understanding before walking over to one of the wood piles, beginning to grab sheets of plywood that had been laid out for the villagers.

"Jack, Cliff."

They both looked up to see Gotz, the stout woodcutter weaving through the small crowd as he made his way over to them.

"Hey Gotz."

"Barley's going to need help boarding up his house and barns. Can I trust you men to help him out when you're done with your farm?"

Jack nodded, "Of course. Does Elli need help with her house?" Jack recalled hearing that the young nurse lived with her grandmother and younger brother.

"I'm going to be boarding up their place after I finish with the hospital," Doctor Trent announced, overhearing their conversation.

"Just make a round through the town when you finish with your place and Barley's and then get straight to shelter," Gotz instructed firmly before walking off to help Pastor Carter carry some wood.

* * *

><p>By the time Jack and Cliff had finished boarding up both Jack's farm and Yodel Ranch and made a quick sweep through the town, the sky had already turned from an intimidating grey to a vicious black. It was dumping rain, the wind picking up in a deafening howl through the trees and brush. The two men, followed by an apprehensive Apollo, made their way to the Inn. By the time they pushed through the doors, they were soaked to the bone, teeth chattering as they scrambled to get out of their wet jackets. The Inn was dim, lit only by several oil lanterns.<p>

"The lights have already gone," Ann said in her usual cheerful manner. It seemed inappropriate for the situation, though she couldn't completely mask the laden anticipation in her voice. She took both their coats, laying them out on empty tables to dry. The entire bottom floor of the Inn was deserted save for her and Gray.

"Where's your dad?" Cliff asked, taking care to move out of the way as Apollo shook the rain from his fur. All three of them walked back to the table to join Gray.

"Oh, he's in his room, reading. Said he didn't want to bother us," Ann laugh and shook her head. Jack set his radio and a handle of vodka on the table. It was bottom-shelf shit - all he could afford with the way they drank. Ann went over to the bar to get some empty glasses for them.

"Girlfriend not here?" Jack asked Gray as he sat down across from the blacksmith's apprentice. Apollo settled under the table at Jack's feet.

"Nah. She's at her house with Ellen and Stu."

"You know, you should really go meet Ellen." Ann had returned with the glasses. She set them down with a bottle of cranberry juice and Jack began mixing them all drinks. "She grew up with your grandfather, you know," Ann smiled as she sat down, pulling her legs up to her chest.

"Really?" Jack glanced over at her with interest.

"Mhm. I bet she could tell you lots of stories about him. She's really sweet too."

Jack passed out the drinks. "That's a good idea. I'll do that soon."

The storm quickly proved to be less exciting than Jack had anticipated; Gray and Cliff settled into a game of chess and the quiet sound of smooth jazz fought a losing battle with the static that seemed to have become exacerbated due to the storm. Jack sat beside Ann, sipping at his glass of vodka and cranberry, watching the game in front of him and dividing his attention between the music and the sound of the wind screaming through the trees. From time to time, a large branch would break outside, causing them all to look up from the game though they couldn't see anything from behind the boarded windows.

"It's really picking up out there…" Ann murmured softly. Jack looked over to her. Her cheeks were red; he'd noticed they always got that way when she'd been drinking.

The sound of feet tromping down the staircase shifted his focus. It was Karen, looking pissed, followed by an amused looking Kai. Her blonde hair was rather disheveled and Jack could guess why. He downed the rest of his drink in one go.

"Oh, Jack…" She approached them, looking guilty.

"Hey Karen, Kai," he said dryly. Ann bit her lip before half stumbling out of her chair and going to get two more glasses.

Karen and Kai both took seats at the table, though not beside each other.

"Hey Jack, how goes the farm?" Kai's tone was wavering on mocking.

"Fine," he responded curtly. Ann had returned and was fixing their newest guests their drinks. Karen took hers gratefully and drank the entire glass before Ann could even finish making Kai's. Jack wondered if they had just been arguing.

"Thanks Ann," he nodded to the redhead as he took his drink. "Why don't we make this a little more interesting? Who's up for a game of 'Never Have I Ever'?"

Gray looked up from the rook he was holding of which was about to ruthlessly overtake Cliff's queen. "What's that?"

Kai chuckled, leaning back smugly in his seat. "We go around in a circle and each person has to say 'never have I ever' and then state something they've never done. Each person who _has_ done it has to drink. Simple enough?"

"That sounds fun," Ann said. Jack wondered how much more alcohol the girl could take; she was a bit of a lightweight, though only in comparison to her two male best friends.

"Alright," Cliff said, clearly not upset over this provided distraction from his losing game of chess. Jack refilled his and Karen's glasses.

"I'll go first," Kai announced before pausing in thought. "Never have I ever… thrown up on someone."

Jack and Gray took swigs of their drinks.

Karen smirked, muttering, "Damn city boys…"

"Never have I ever kissed a guy," Cliff spoke next.

Ann and Karen both drank.

It was Ann's turn, "Never have I ever... been in a car!"

Jack, Cliff, Gray and Kai all took sips of their drinks.

Jack was next in the circle, "Never have I ever... slept with someone over five years older than me."

Kai proudly took a mouthful. Karen shot a glare at him from across the table.

"Never have I ever been arrested," Karen announced coolly.

Jack and Cliff both hesitated, catching each other's gaze before drinking. Ann burst into giggles.

"Never have I ever… cheated on a significant other," Gray said.

Jack, Kai, and Karen all shamefully drank from their glasses.

The game went on for some time, the questions becoming more and more vulgar as they all slipped deeper into their intoxication. They laughed, poured drinks, and tried to out-do each other with every turn, forgetting momentarily about the roaring thunder and unyielding wind outside.

Eventually, after several rotations around the circle, it was Kai's turn again. A wide, smug grin spread across his face, "Never have I ever… _not_ slept with someone in this room." He was staring right at Jack, one eyebrow raised.

Jack went stiff, instantly annoyed.

"Can he _do_ that?" Gray whispered to Karen in regard to Kai's clever double negative. She didn't respond.

Jack knew exactly what Kai was trying to do: rub it in his face. He clenched his jaw, glancing over to Karen who was staring shamefully into her glass, then to Ann who had suddenly turned a deep shade of crimson. Only Jack and Cliff drank from their glasses. He assumed and hoped that their little tryst together was the reason Ann and Gray hadn't drank; Jack was sure if Ann too had slept with Kai at any point, it would only make him detest the traveler more. What he would have given to have just one good slug at Kai…

"Oh, hey, Jack! I wanted to show you something," Ann tugged at the farmer's sleeve, getting out of her chair.

"Wha?" Jack glanced over to her curiously.

"Come on," she motioned for him to follow, grabbing one of the oil lanterns off the tables and walking over to the staircase. Jack took one last glance at Kai's pompous expression before following after the redhead.

She led him, half stumbling, up the stairs, down the long hallway and past the many doors to the different rooms, all presumably empty at the time. Stopping at one of the doors, she pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked it, pushing inside and setting the lantern down on an old wooden desk. Jack stepped inside, squinting to see the dark room.

"Is this your room?" He turned around to look at her.

She smiled, nodding, "Mhm."

It was small, taken up mostly by her double bed with dark blue blankets and white sheets. Everything was immaculate, which wasn't surprising to Jack knowing that Ann spent most of her days cleaning and organizing the rooms at the Inn. There were several photos hanging on the walls and a few paintings of mountainous landscapes in the summer; her dresser had a blue vase filled with freshly-cut summer flowers in an intricate arrangement.

"What did you want to show me then?" Jack blinked, confused.

Ann giggled, shrugging her shoulders, "I just wanted to get you away from Kai. It looked like you were contemplating kicking his teeth in."

"I was," Jack admitted. There she went again, always reading his mind. Jack walked over to a bookshelf tucked in one corner of the modest room, observing a photo of a stunning woman with long, auburn hair. "Ann, is this your mother?" He picked the frame up.

"Yeah… She um… She died when I was five. I don't remember her much." Ann scratched her cheek awkwardly.

"Oh… I'm really sorry. She was beautiful," Jack said, carefully placing the photo back on the bookshelf before turning back to the redhead. Before she could respond, the sound of the radio downstairs suddenly got much louder, assumingly taken over by a drunken Karen and pouring through the open bedroom door. Jack and Ann both chuckled.

"I love this song," Jack mused at the downtempo classic rock ballad laced with static.

Ann laughed, walking over to him and wrapping her arms around his neck. Jack placed his hands on her waist as they began to dance, just as they had many times in his house on the farm. Jack hummed along, sometimes serenading her with the words to the song. She giggled, staring up at him with a sort of tipsy wide-eyed fascination.

"Jack?" she said after the song had finished. They continued to sway in place.

"Hm?"

"Be good to me." Her voice was soft, the color of her cheeks barely visible through the dim, flickering light but noticeably the same color crimson they had turned at Kai's final question. Jack's eyebrows furrowed. 'Be good to me'. What did that mean? He opened his mouth to ask but the question was lost as a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass echoed from down the hall. They immediately broke apart and Ann ran off in the direction of the sound. The boards over one of the windows of a vacant room had been no match for an old, large tree beside the Inn that had succumbed to the high winds, knocking over into the building. Luckily the Inn itself was sturdy and made of brick, but the broken window had left shattered glass and splintered wood all over the room.

After the investigation into the jolting noise, everyone made their way to their respective rooms, decidedly too intoxicated and too anxious after the incident to continue their little party. Jack lay in the small bed of one of the rooms, Apollo asleep on the floor beside him. He thought for a long time, unable to find sleep either because of the unsettling noises of the storm raging outside or the restlessness of his mind. _Be good to me_. It tossed and turned through his thoughts. _Be good to me_._ Be good to me._

Eventually he thought of Karen and what she must look like naked, drifting off into an unsatisfying dream.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I thought Kai's little drinking game was a fun and interesting way to explore the character's pasts and different personalities a bit. Thanks for sticking with me if you've made it this far! As always, please review so I know if anyone's following along.


	9. Chapter 8: The Real Family Tree

**Chapter Eight  
>The Real Family Tree<strong>

The typhoon had left the farm with minimal damage: some branches and debris littered the meticulously tended field and one of the old, rusted hinges on the barn door had cracked and been pulled from the wood of its frame under the strength of the winds. Besides the Inn, the library suffered some minor damage and the town itself was littered with uprooted shrubbery and branches that had broken off trees. The storm had gone as quickly as it had come, the sun returning to beat down merrily on the little town. The villagers all pitched in with the cleanup of the red cobblestone roads, in all taking no more than a day to return it to its former state. Cliff and Jack worked to clean the fields and repair the barn door as Gotz took a day off from his designated expansion project to fix the library.

The day of the repairs, Jack had taken Ann's advice to set up a meeting with the elderly woman, Ellen, who had known his grandfather. He found Elli, out of her usual traditional nurse's uniform and in a pair of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt, helping to clear the road outside of the hospital. What little of her warm brown hair that was long enough was pulled back into a small ponytail. Her eyes were a chocolate brown that glistened invitingly in the sun. She was a bit curvy but well-proportioned and very womanly with a cute face. She smiled warmly as he approached.

"Hi Jack." She stood shielding her eyes from the sun so she could get a proper look at the young farmer. "Everything's alright, I hope." There was a touch of motherly concern in her voice as there always was whenever she and Jack spoke. It must have been in her nature, being a nurse and all.

Jack nodded, "Oh yeah, everything's fine Elli. I just wanted to talk to you about something."

She tilted her head curiously, "Oh?"

"Yeah… I heard your grandmother grew up with my grandfather."

Elli's already smiling face broke into a grin, "She did. I was wondering if you might come to me one day and ask about this."

Jack chuckled, scratching the back of his neck, "Do you think I could meet her? Ask her some questions about my grandfather and whatnot? I really don't know much about him… Like, at all, really."

"Of course! She would absolutely love that, Jack. Unfortunately her legs are bad so she doesn't get out of the house much but she absolutely adores visitors and I know she'd love to meet you. She was very close with your grandfather and his passing was difficult for her." Elli brushed a few short locks of hair from her cheeks. Jack noticed the very light freckles splashed across her small nose. "Tomorrow is Wednesday and the clinic is closed. Why don't you come over around noon?"

"That's perfect. I'll be over then. See you tomorrow, Elli."

"Bye Jack." She waved as the farmer turned to make his way back to the farm.

* * *

><p>Jack lost Cliff the next day to the building project; apparently Gotz had needed help laying foundation and Mayor Thomas had recruited Cliff, Gray, Zack, and even Louis for the endeavor. Jack wasn't surprised to later hear that Louis had done nothing of actual value and rather spent the entire time observing the summer insects through his magnifying glass, unintentionally burning them to death under the hot summer sun. Jack watered the fields, tended to the chick which was growing at a rapid pace, and even brushed Lucifer with great caution and hesitancy. Once the daily chores had all been completed, Jack took a long shower and dressed in the nicest, cleanest pair of jeans he owned and a plain black t-shirt. He messed with his auburn hair for a while in the foggy bathroom mirror, inwardly cursing himself for not getting a proper haircut before coming to Mineral Town. Maybe Ann would be willing to try to tame his shaggy locks with a pair of scissors later? On his way out, Jack paused in front of the mirror in the small living room. He bit his lip, staring down at the old picture of the woman he had found in the dusty cookbook several months ago, still tucked into the corner of the mirror's frame. He picked it up, looking it over again before slipping it into the back pocket of his jeans.<p>

Jack arrived at Elli's place just after noon. She opened the door, the smell of cedar wood and dried flowers enveloping him. She was wearing a baby blue cotton sundress, her hair down and reaching to her mid-neck.

"Come on in." She motioned, stepping aside to let the farmer in.

"Thanks," he said.

The house was much cooler than outside thanks to their air conditioner. An elderly woman was sitting in an old wooden rocking chair pulled up beside one of the open windows. She was staring outside through the tiny spectacles perched on her small nose of which looked just like Elli's. Her face was heavily wrinkled, the deep crevices of laugh-lines marking a map of the happy, carefree life she had lived in Mineral Town. Her grey hair was pulled up, hidden in a white bonnet, loose wisps tickling her cheeks. She looked over to the stranger in the doorway, a smile etching across her thin lips.

"Why, I haven't seen that face in a long time…" she said softly, her voice slightly hoarse. She began to rock gently in her chair.

"Let me get you a chair, Jack." Elli said cheerfully before disappearing momentarily as Jack slipped off his shoes by the door.

"Hi… I'm Jack," he said with noted awkwardness, walking over to the elderly woman.

"Jack…" she repeated dreamily.

Elli returned to them with one of the dining table chairs, setting it beside the farmer. He thanked her, seating himself across from Ellen.

"I'm going to go make a batch of sweet tea." Elli announced, brushing at her sundress. Jack watched as Elli disappeared into the kitchen before turning his attention back to Ellen.

"You… Knew my grandfather then?"

"Oh yes… Very well. James and I grew up together here."

The sound of little feet pattering against the hardwood floor suddenly echoed through the house.

"Jack! Jack!" The farmer looked over to see the excited Stu who had appeared at his side.

Jack chuckled at the seven year-old, "Hey Stu."

"Jack, do you wanna see the beetle I caught yesterday? It's in a jar in my room and it's _so big_!" Stu spoke as if he couldn't get the words out fast enough. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates. Jack opened his mouth to respond, but Elli's voice sounded from the kitchen doorway.

"Stu, Jack came over here to see grandma. They're having a grown-up talk. Can you go back to playing in your room for a while?" Her words were stern but not harsh. Stu pouted anyway, hanging his head dejectedly.

"I'll come look at your beetle later, ok?" Jack smiled to the boy, ruffling his dark hair. This seemed to perk him right back up.

"Ok!" he chimed before turning to run back down the hallway to his bedroom.

Ellen laughed softly. "Such an energetic little boy," she mused.

"Yeah…" he agreed with a chuckle.

"Your grandfather… He was quite a little trouble marker when we were growing up."

Jack smiled, settling back in his chair to listen to the old woman's stories. She was staring out the window dreamily as she spoke, as if watching the memories replaying in her mind like a movie, projected in her consciousness, pulling them from the corners of her mind and revisiting them for the first time in decades.

"He was always so adventurous. He was born on that farm and he grew up on that farm. That place has been in your family for many generations, you know." She glanced at the farmer with the same kind of motherly smile that Elli gave whenever she saw him. "Your great-grandfather, Charles, was a stern man… I remember him very well. He was a drinker and he always smoked this old pipe. Your great-grandmother, Rosalind, was a quiet woman, but very sweet. She used to make us the most _wonderful_ pies."

"Did my grandfather want to be a farmer?" Jack seemed hesitant to ask.

"Oh, no, not when we were young. He wanted to be an adventurer," she laughed softly at this, wiping a bit of moisture from under her eye. "But what little boy doesn't? He grew into the farm work though… He came to resent it less and less. Eventually he embraced it, though I don't know if it was out of his sense of obligation or true desire…"

Jack bit his lip, "Do you… remember my father?"

Ellen glanced over at Jack, smiling weakly. "Yes… Yes I do. William… I remember when Victoria, your grandmother, became pregnant with William. Everyone was so excited for them. Oh, she loved your father so much – both of them did."

Jack's brows furrowed. "They fought a lot when my dad was growing up, didn't they…?"

Ellen nodded solemnly. "Yes… Your father had your grandfather's same rebellious spirit. He fought your father over everything. It hurt him greatly… I still remember when William left for the city. James was broken. He loved your father more than anything and he had hoped William would follow in his footsteps to take over your family's farm. But I suppose your father's resistance wasn't something he grew out of like James, your grandfather, had."

Elli had appeared beside them, holding two glasses of iced sweet tea with lemon slices. "Here you go." Jack took his gratefully before she handed Ellen her glass.

"Thank you dear…" The old woman smiled, sipping at the refreshing liquid before setting it on a small side table next to her rocking chair. Jack stared into his tea in silence for some time; he was trying to absorb everything he had just been told. For some reason, he found it hard to take.

"Oh…" he murmured suddenly, reaching back to pull the photo out of his back pocket. "Ellen, do you know who this is?"

The old woman outstretched a slightly shaky hand, adjusting her glasses on her nose. She stared down at the photo for a moment before a smile broke across her face.

"Of course, dear. This is Elisabeth."

Jack hesitated. "_Who's_ Elisabeth?"

Ellen looked up at the young farmer in disbelief. She studied his face for a moment. Her expression was making him nervous.

"Jack, dear, Elisabeth was James' first wife."

Jack stared at her with a confused, almost pained expression. "I… I didn't know my grandfather was married before he married my grandmother…" he admitted.

Ellen nodded slowly, "Yes, he was. And they had a son, Henry."

Jack's jaw dropped in disbelief. "I have an _uncle?"_

"Yes. But Elisabeth left your grandfather when Henry was just a baby. She moved away and he never saw either of them again. He was a mess. I didn't think he'd ever get over it, much less remarry."

Jack buried his face in his hand, trying to process the convoluted family tree that was unfolding right in front of him. "Did my father know about Henry? About his brother?"

"Yes, he did. I don't know if they've ever met, but I do know that they used to write to each other. It always greatly upset your grandfather."

Jack bit down on his tongue to try and keep himself from yelling out in frustration. _Why_ hadn't his father ever told him about his uncle? _Why_ had his father always settled on having such a broken, disjointed family? It didn't make sense to Jack. Was his father really just that stubborn and resentful?

Their conversation turned to idle chitchat about the farm and several anecdotes involving the misadventures of the young Ellen and James. Jack listened intently, laughing along, but this new information weighed heavily on him. After his conversation with Ellen came to a close, Jack went to go behold the glory of the impressive rhinoceros beetle that Stu had in a jar in his room. Finally, Jack joined Elli out in the grass of their small backyard, staring off into the dense woods that served as a perimeter for the town. Laundry was hanging from a clothesline, blowing gently in the breeze.

"Did you find out something you didn't want to hear…?" Elli asked after a long moment of silence between them. Jack had been picking at blades of grass, unaware that a frown was etched across his face. He looked up at her, shrugging one shoulder.

"Yeah, kind of. My father has a half-brother he never told me about. I have an uncle and he never even said anything about him. I could have cousins too for all I know." He heaved a sigh, looking off into the woods.

"Are you going to talk to your father about it?"

"I guess I should…" Jack shrugged again.

Elli reached out, touching the farmer's arm lightly. "It's alright Jack. There's no use being upset over the past. If you want to reach out to your father about it, you should. But you don't have to. Just do whatever feels right to you."

Jack looked over at the girl who was smiling warmly. Something about her and her words were comforting to him. "Thanks, Elli," he said genuinely.

* * *

><p>He left her house as the town was beginning to cool, the sun retreating a bit to offer some much appreciated relief from the direct sunlight. He was making his way over to the Inn as the strawberry blonde girl in a red dress approached him. Jack's heart sunk momentarily.<p>

"Hi Jack." She chimed.

"Oh, hey Popuri." His mouth felt suddenly very dry.

"I haven't seen you around lately." Popuri spoke in an observatory rather than accusing manner, for which Jack was thankful.

"Yeah, I mean, since its summer now there's been a lot of work on the farm… You know…" He trailed off, feigning distraction by a bird that had fluttered by.

"Oh… Well… Ok. I guess I'll see you around then!" She waved and continued walking along the path. Jack let out a heavy sigh of relief, then felt an unusual sense of guilt wash over him. He wasn't used to actually feeling _bad_ in situations like that. But Popuri seemed like such a nice girl, despite her intelligence. He was such a bastard…

Pushing his way into the Inn, he spotted Ann who was sitting behind the bar and looking devastatingly bored. The Inn was empty save for her. She perked up immediately at the sight of him.

"Hey Jack!" she called as the farmer approached.

"Hey Ann."

"What're you here for? A late lunch? Early dinner?"

"No, no. I just need to use the phone."

She let out a loud, dramatic groan. "But I'm _so damn bored_!"

Jack laughed, shaking his head. "Jeez, fine, you can make me something while I'm on the phone if you really want to then."

She perked back up. "Who you calling?"

"My dad," Jack responded gloomily.

Ann tilted her head. "Oh? Why the long face?"

"Because my dad's a dick," he said vaguely.

The redhead giggled. "Alright then. What do you want me to make you?"

Jack shrugged dismissively, "Whatever your little heart desires, Ann."

She laughed, rolling her eyes before disappearing into the back kitchen. Jack made his way over to the phone, pulling up one of the chairs from the table to sit in. He scrounged up the correct amount of change and dialed his father's number. The phone rang several times before his father's familiar voice on the other side came through the static.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Dad, it's Jack."

"Oh, Jack! How are you? How's the farm? It's been a while since I've heard from you. Have you adjusted well?"

"Yeah, it hasn't been bad. The farm's doing pretty well, actually. I've got a good friend out here that I'm paying to help me as a farmhand for a while. I've got a horse, too."

"But Jack… You _hate_ horses."

"Yeah, I know. He's evil. His name is Lucifer. But he hasn't killed me yet so I think everything's going really well, all things considered."

"Huh. Well, that's nice, son. That's really nice to hear."

"Dad, I really need to ask you about something."

"Oh? What is it?" His father's tone had become gravely concerned.

"Dad, why didn't you tell me about Henry?"

There was a long silence.

"Dad…?"

"Jack, I don't know what you want me to say," his father said softly.

All at once, Jack was shouting, "Fuck, Dad, I want you to explain to me why I have an uncle that you never told me about!"

"_Had_. You _had_ an uncle. He died about three years ago…" his father corrected.

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache beginning to fester. "I had an uncle, and he _died_, and you never even thought to _tell_ me? What kind of family_ is _this?"

"Son, it's complicated."

"How fucking complicated can it be? You isolated me from my entire extended family my whole life! This is bullshit!"

"Hey, watch your language! I'm your father!" They were both shouting now.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me, _Dad_? Any other skeletons in our family's closet you want to air out?"

William sighed heavily. "Jack, Henry lived a few cities over. We never spoke much, only a phone call or two a year, right up until he passed. I didn't want to tell you about him because I didn't think it was relevant to our life. I only met him once, and that was before you were even born. But he had a daughter, your cousin. She's a bit younger than you – must be twenty or twenty-one about now. Her name's Claire. I don't know much about her, but I know she's a baker living in the city. I spoke with her when Henry died. She seems like a nice girl. She was reaching out to try to learn more about her family. I told her about you and I said I'd pass along her information to get in touch with her if you wanted to."

"And… That was three years ago? And you never told me?" Jack was leaning against the counter, finding this entire conversation exhausting.

"No… But I'm sure she'd still be interested in hearing from you. I have her address in my address book if you'd just give me a minute…" Jack could hear his father fumbling on the other side of the phone. He sat up, looking over to see Ann who had been leaning on the back of the bar, listening to his conversation.

He scowled at her, hissing, "Hey, little miss spy, why don't you make yourself useful and go fetch me some paper and a pen?"

Ann stuck her tongue playfully out at him before going to get the pad of paper used to take orders and a pen, bringing it back over to Jack.

"Are you ready?" His father's voice returned to the phone.

"Yes, go ahead."

He recited her information of which Jack hastily scrawled out in his messy handwriting. When he had it, he cut the conversation short, not wanting to antagonize his brewing headache anymore than he already had. Ripping the sheet of paper off the pad, he stuffed it in his pocked, going over to sit in front of a large plate of curry Ann had fixed for him.

"So… Who is she then?" Her chin was resting in her palm as she stared intently at him from across the counter.

"My cousin, apparently. I have a cousin, I guess." Jack shrugged, taking a mouthful of curry. "You know, you're gonna make an excellent wife someday with the way you cook, Ann." He said with his mouth half-full.

Ann blushed, scowling at him. "Shut up, Jack."

"Speaking of which, how's Cliff?" He raised an eyebrow at her, smirking. Her blush only deepened, seeming to always fail her when she tried to hide her embarrassment.

"What do you mean? You see him more than I do! _You_ tell me how he is!" She was flustered, defensive. Jack only laughed.

"Alright, alright, never mind… Forget I asked."

* * *

><p>It was already dark by the time Jack pushed his way into his house, his emotional exhaustion seeming to have taken more of a toll on his body than any of his recent farm work. He went to his bedroom, grabbing his pen and notebook off his bedside table before collapsing into bed. Groaning exaggeratedly as he settled himself on his bed, he opened the notebook to a blank page. He stared at it for some time. Why did he feel like he was writing a disproportionately large amount of letters to strangers recently? Two felt like two too many.<p>

_Claire,_

_Hi. This is Jack. Apparently you spoke with my father three years ago and gave him your address to pass along to me. I'm sorry I didn't write sooner, it's just I had no idea you even existed until today. My father is kind of an asshole sometimes and I guess decided to hide from me the fact that you and your father even existed for my entire life. I'm living in Mineral Town right now, on the farm that our grandfather spent his entire life on. I don't know if anyone's told you, but our grandfather died a little while ago. I came here because I don't know much about my family (and discovered today that I knew even less than I previously thought) and I wanted to learn more about our grandfather and his life here._

_I guess I should tell you a little about myself because I really don't know how much you know. I'm twenty three years old. I, like you, grew up in the city. I had a pretty normal childhood with my parents and I had only met our grandfather a couple times. I went to university and got a Bachelor's in Business Management. Due to personal reasons, I decided that I wanted to leave the city and when the opportunity to move here to restore the farm presented itself to me, I took it._

_I don't know if you're still trying to find out more about your family, but I am and I would love to hear from you. I'm sorry if you thought I was some big-headed prick who never wanted to write to you over all these years, but I would have had I had any idea._

_Hope to hear from you soon,_

_Jack D. Harper_

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Next chapter should be up sometime over the next few weeks.


	10. Chapter 9: Change Is in the Air

**Chapter Nine**  
><strong>Change Is in the Air<strong>

A letter came in the post – hand-delivered by Greg just as he had promised weeks ago – in the early afternoon just as Jack was beginning to spread the chicken feed for Alectrona. He could hear Cliff's voice calling from the field.

"Jack! You have a visitor!" Cliff bellowed as he stood nestled between the corn and the okra with the old tin watering can he used to tend to the rapidly growing plants.

Jack emerged from the chicken coop, spotting the old fisherman waiting patiently by his door. His stomach instantly felt as if it had dropped to his feet and his heart began to pound excitedly in his chest. The farmer approached as quickly as his weary legs could carry him.

"Greg?" he called softly as he approached, anticipation lacing his wide blue eyes. A warm smile spread across the old man's face as he nodded.

"Your letter, just as I promised," he beamed proudly as his extended hand offered a small white envelope. Jack took it hastily, flipping it over to the front to examine his name and address. There was no return address in the corner. His heart skipped a beat.

"Thank you so much Greg. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this," Jack grinned as he slipped the letter into the back pocket of his dark, mud-covered jeans.

"Don't be a stranger now." The fisherman's dark, wrinkled hand waved and he smiled as he turned to leave the farm.

"I'll see you soon, Greg," Jack called after him before turning around to face Cliff. The vagabond was standing in the same spot of the field, watching the interaction curiously.

"What'd you get?" Cliff called.

"Oh, nothing important," he lied casually, shrugging one shoulder to which Cliff didn't look convinced. "Hey, why don't we finish the fields in a few hours, huh? Let's take a break and go see what's going on at the Inn. I need to talk to Ann about something anyway."

Cliff didn't need any more convincing; he set his watering can down and walked over to the farmer, grateful for some relief from the hot summer sun.

The young men pushed their way through the doors of the Inn. Immediately they were met with the sound of smashing plates and metal cooking ware hitting the floor. The dining area and bar were completely deserted.

"What the fuck?" Jack and Cliff caught each other's gazes with confused expressions. They followed the noise. Yelling had quickly been added to the symphony of disaster coming from the back kitchen. Jack pushed open the swinging door and thick, black smoke billowed out to greet them.

"Shit!" Cliff mutter, instantly beginning to cough and choke at the bitter smoke that engulfed them. The entire room smelled like burning food. Jack squinted, barely able to make out Karen's frantic face and Ann's red hair.

"Put it out! Put it out! You had the stove way too high! _What the hell were you thinking?_" Ann was screaming frantically.

"I don't know _how_ to put it out!" Karen snapped back, trying to throw a rag on the ignited black lump which presumably used to be food before it came into contact with Karen. The rag instantly caught fire.

"Karen, what the fuck!" Ann was now shrieking, "_How was that going to help?_"

"Ugh," Jack grumbled to himself, disappearing from the kitchen doorway momentarily.

The farmer went to the back of the bar where a fire extinguisher was mounted in a glass case on the wall. _BREAK IN CASE OF FIRE_. Jack groaned loudly as he read the bold, white lettering across the glass. Despite more obvious solutions which escaped him in the moment, Jack's fist connected with the glass, followed by a loud shatter. Wincing in pain, he didn't even look down at his hand as he snatched up the red extinguisher and ripped the plastic clip out of it. Pushing his way back into the back kitchen and past Cliff, he aimed the extinguisher and blasted the fire with the thick white spray. Both girls screamed, jumping back and staring up at Jack with wide, shocked eyes; through the chaos, they hadn't even realized the men where there. The smoke quickly began to dissipate but the putrid smell of burnt food remained thick in the air. Now clear through the smoke, the floor was littered with a few broken plates and several pots and pans.

"Jack, Cliff!" Ann uttered breathlessly.

"How long were you guys standing there?" Karen snapped with her hands on her hips, looking annoyed rather than grateful. Her eyes were ringed in red; Jack couldn't tell if it was from the smoke or if she had been crying.

"Long enough," Cliff muttered, stepping forward.

"What the hell are you guys doing back here?" Jack set the extinguisher on the counter.

Ann let out a loud, exasperated sigh, "I'm _trying_ to teach Karen to cook!"

Karen rubbed the bridge of her nose, pinching her eyes closed in frustration. "And I was doing just _fine_!" she announced defensively before adding, "You know… Before the fire or whatever…"

Jack couldn't help but laugh. "Oh, I see." He was quickly met with Karen's fist as she punched him in the arm. "Ow…" he mumbled, rubbing the tender spot.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ann tilted her head.

"Oh, yeah. We were just taking a break and I have something to show you, Ann." Jack smiled, remembering the letter tucked safely in his back pocket.

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Can we go to your room?" Jack scratched his neck awkwardly, receiving curious stares from both Cliff and Karen.

"Of course…" Ann nodded slowly, eyes growing wide with the realization of what it must be if he couldn't show her in front of his two other close friends.

Karen scowled, "If you're going to show her your dick you'd better save it because she probably doesn't know what to do with it." She crossed her arms across her chest.

Ann turned on her heels, horrified, and shouted at the blonde, "I know you're upset Karen and I'm _sorry_, but just _stop_! Why don't you work on cleaning this mess up?" She glared at her best friend who gritted her teeth in silence.

Jack raised an eyebrow, following Ann out of the back kitchen.

"What the hell's up with her?" Jack asked quietly as the two climbed the staircase to the second floor.

Ann let out a loud sigh, "Her and Kai broke up."

"Oh!" Jack said a little too excitedly. He cleared his throat, "I mean, _oh_…" He corrected in a much more sympathetic tone.

Ann shot him a glare.

"She's being such a bitch though! I feel so bad for her because she's really sad but she's just so unbearable right now…"

"Why'd they break up?" Jack tired to ask as casually as possible, bottling his excitement.

"He was cheating on her with Popuri, apparently…" The redhead said softly. A pit of guilt and anxiety instantly formed in Jack's stomach.

"Oh…" He muttered softly, staring at his feet.

"It's for the best. She deserves better."

Jack nodded in agreement. They pushed their way into Ann's room, closing the door carefully behind them. Jack withdrew the letter from his back pocket. Ann gasped sharply, though not at the letter.

"Jack! You're bleeding all over the place!" Her eyes were wide.

Jack looked down at his hand indifferently. It had been stinging a bit ever since the fire extinguisher case. There were several deep cuts on his hand; blood had run down the length of his forearm in several small streams.

"Huh," Jack mumbled. It was probably all the excitement that had kept him from noticing the wounds; adrenaline was known to do that. "Well, here. This is more important." He shoved the letter in front of her. It had accumulated a few spots of blood. Ann grimaced before taking it and looking it over.

"You haven't even opened it yet?" The redhead looked back up at him in surprise.

Jack shrugged one shoulder, "I wanted to wait to show it to you."

Ann laughed at this, walking over to her bed and hastily beginning to rip the envelope open. Jack followed her, sitting beside her on her blue comforter. Ann unfolded the letter and they both leaned anxiously over it, reading the neatly handwritten words on the page:

_Jack,_

_I'm sorry this has taken me so long to respond to you. I didn't know what I should say. At first I was mad that you even had the audacity to go out of your way to find me. You're a bold man, Jack. But I do appreciate you at least having enough respect not to tell my parents about contacting me or where I live now. _

_I love the city I've come to and I love the people here. I have a good life in this city. It's so different from home. I work in an office and I make good money. I'm able to support myself and live on my own. I love going out and meeting people here. I love the cars and the giant buildings and all the people in the streets. It's never boring and I don't feel restless like I did back home when I was younger._

_But to be honest, the more I thought about it and the more I read my mother's letter you sent along, the more homesick I became. I love my parents very, very much. I don't know how much you've heard about me but I left Mineral Town for very personal, very complex reasons. I just felt like I had to get away and grow up, I guess. I thought I was grown up when I left but I was really just a scared, confused little girl. But I figured myself out here in the city and I've grown so much. I miss my family terribly, even if my father can be a real bastard sometimes, as I'm sure you know. I miss all my friends back home too. I do think about Mineral Town all the time, but I've been so scared to give my parents any indication of where I'm living for fear that they'll try to have someone come find me and force me to go back there. I always thought that would be the worst thing in the world. But then I got your letter, and my heart began to ache. I hate to know that how badly my parents struggle, but I'm glad that you told me._

_I've thought about it a lot and I've decided that I'm going to return to Mineral Town – at least for a while. I think my mother really needs to see me and I think it will help if I can at least try to make up with my father. We're both such stubborn people but even in my absence it upsets me to know that my father fights with my mother over me._

_I have already made the necessary arrangements. I will be arriving on July 12th. Please don't tell anyone. I'd like to surprise my parents._

_I look forward to meeting you, Jack._

_Sincerely,_

_Aja V. Feaser_

"She's coming back!" Ann squealed, clutching the letter so tightly in her hands that it threatened to rip in her eager grasp.

Jack chuckled, "Yeah." He glanced over at a calendar on her wall, "The twelfth is in four days, too."

Ann jumped up from the bed, pacing around as she reread the words on the lined paper.

"Oh, this is so exciting! How am I going to keep this a secret?" she whined down to the farmer.

Jack shrugged.

"We should celebrate." Ann announced suddenly.

"Oh?"

"Yeah! It's a nice day. Why don't we all go to the beach?" She smiled cheerfully, showing her white, perfectly straight teeth.

"That's not a bad idea," Jack admitted, "But…" He lifted his bloody hand as a reminder.

"Oh yeah… I'll take you to the clinic first. Let's go check on Karen and Cliff." Ann folded the letter neatly back into the envelope before handing it back to Jack who replaced it in his back pocket.

The two made their way down the second floor and back to the kitchen. Inside, dirty rags littered the counters. The kitchen looked relatively clean though the smell seemed to cling to every surface. Cliff and Karen looked up from the dishes they were washing in the large metal sink.

"Well?" Karen raised an eyebrow expectantly.

"We're going to the beach!" the redhead announced.

"But…" Karen murmured, "What if Kai's there?"

"I'll kill him," Jack shrugged nonchalantly. Cliff laughed at this. It seemed like a reasonable enough solution for Karen.

"I'm going to take Jack to the clinic real quick first," Ann smiled. Jack raised his bloody hand to which Cliff and Karen both grimaced. "Why don't you go ask Gray if he wants to meet us there, Cliff?"

Cliff nodded to Ann in understanding.

The four of them split up, Jack walking along beside Ann and trying to keep his wounded hand elevated as they made their way towards the clinic. As they pushed through the clinic door, Jack was met with the sterile smell so indicative of hospitals. He hated it. The bright, fluorescent lights took a moment for his eyes to adjust to after the natural glow of the sun outside. Elli was smiling cheerfully behind the counter, wearing her traditional nurse's uniform.

"Oh! Jack, Ann, what're you d-" she trailed off, her eyes growing wide at the sight of Jack's hand as the two approached her counter. "I see." she said quietly, "Let me go get Doctor Trent." Smiling hesitantly, Elli disappeared into the back rooms of the clinic. Jack and Ann could hear their faint voices. Suddenly, the Doctor emerged, followed by the young nurse.

"Hello, Jack." Trent spoke seriously, as he always did. Jack mustered what he could of a smile.

"Hey, Doctor Trent."

"Why don't you both follow me back. Elli, would you get the paperwork started?"

Elli nodded to Trent, going and seating herself back behind her counter. Jack and Ann followed Trent into one of the back rooms.

"Take a seat over there," Trent instructed to Jack, motioning towards the exam table.

The farmer obliged. Ann took a seat in one of the extra chairs by the door. Trent pulled a lamp down towards Jack's hand, flipping it on and looking down at the injured hand. He gently moved Jack's hand from time to time, pensively observing the injuries.

"Looks like you're going to need a few stitches in two of these. The rest can just be wrapped up," Doctor Trent finally announced.

Jack cursed internally.

"How did this happen? On the farm?" The doctor had walked back to one of the tables, beginning to prepare a few syringes presumably filled with numbing anesthesia.

"No," Ann chimed, wiggling nervously in her chair, "I was trying to teach Karen to cook and she lit something on fire. Jack broke the extinguisher case."

"Oh," Trent nodded in understanding and then chuckled dryly, "I see. Elli!" he called out the nurse's name abruptly.

Elli appeared moments later. "Yes, Doctor?"

"Would you like to administer the anesthesia?"

Elli smiled nervously, "Of course, Doctor." She walked over to the small sterile tray that held the three intimidating syringes. The nurse picked it up, bringing it over to a small table beside the exam table.

"Those are going in my hand then?" Jack raised a brow skeptically, eyeing the sickeningly thick needles.

"I'm afraid so, Jack," Elli giggled nervously, which didn't help to put the farmer at ease.

Jack sighed. "Alright then, let's get it over with."

The nurse picked up the needles one by one, carefully injecting them into the fragile skin of the back of his hand. He winced as each one entered and then glanced over to Ann who looked particularly horrified. He chuckled at the sight.

"Look like fun?" he smirked at her. She shook her head vigorously, her red ponytail swishing behind her head.

"No!" she squeaked, frowning. Jack laughed again.

"All finished, Doctor," Elli smiled to Trent.

"Very good. Thank you, Elli."

Elli nodded before turning back to Jack and giggling, "Sorry about that."

"No hard feelings, El," Jack shrugged with a smile. He could already feel his hand going numb; it was a strange feeling.

Elli disappeared from the room again.

"Alright," Trent poked at Jack's hand, "Feel anything?"

Jack frowned and shook his head, "Nope. Nothing. Go to town."

Doctor Trent settled down into a seat, carefully beginning to sew up the two deepest wounds. Jack felt nothing but the slight tugging sensation of the needle and medical thread. Ann had gone quite pale in her chair. After a while, the Doctor had finished stitching, applying antibiotic cream, and wrapping the wounds carefully.

"Alright, Jack. You're all set," he smiled cheerfully. "No strenuous work with that hand for the next week and a half, alright?" Doctor Trent's expression had quickly resumed its usual seriousness. "Then I want to see you back here."

"Got it, I'll do my best," he smiled weakly, hopping off the table and walking over to Ann who looked rather woozy. "Come on."

Ann followed the farmer out of the room and back over to the counter so he could fill out and sign some paperwork.

"Hey, Elli, you want to come with us to the beach? Your boyfriend might be coming too," Jack asked as he signed his name for the fifth time.

"Oh… I'd love to guys, but unfortunately I have to work." She forced a weak smile.

"That's too bad. Next time?" Ann asked cheerfully.

Elli perked up as she took the clipboard back from Jack. "That'd be wonderful!"

The two left the clinic and split up to go get ready for the beach.

By the time Jack had changed into his black swim trunks, got his large towel, and made his way to the beach, Karen, Cliff, Ann, and Gray were already nestled in the sand. The waves licked at the shore, ebbing and flowing in a gentle ambience. The sun kissed the farmer's skin which had been becoming slightly darker over the weeks of shirtless field labor; a few light sun freckles had appeared across his cheeks and his shoulders. Jack placed his towel between Cliff and Karen. All three men were shirtless and dressed in swimming trunks; the girls were wearing bikinis, Ann in navy blue and Karen in bright yellow. The blonde was looking only marginally more content than she had been in the kitchen of the Inn.

"Hey Jack," Gray mustered a smile to the farmer.

"Hey man," Jack returned the expression.

Suddenly Karen snatched Gray's hat off of his head, grinning mischievously.

"Hey," Gray scowled, trying to snatch the beloved hat he often wore from her head.

She giggled playfully. "Come and catch me!" She jumped from the green towel she had been sitting on and ran to the water, squealing as the cold, salty waves licked her skin.

Gray leaped up, wading through the water after the frisky blonde. Jack laughed at the sight, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his folded knees as he watched. Karen's long, blonde hair trailed behind her, blowing in the ocean's breeze. They splashed through the water, laughing, and eventually Jack's gaze wandered over to Ann who had flipped onto her stomach to read a book. Her shoulder blades protruded from her back. Jack admired the gentle curve of her spine, her slender arms, and her petite hips. Ann glanced over at him after a moment, somehow feeling his gaze. She smiled gently. Her features were soft: her nose small with a gentle curve, her lips full and pink, her baby blue eyes wide, and her cheeks softly rounded and peppered with light freckles. There was something very youthful about her face; it reminded Jack of a girl in a scandalous old black and white movie he had seen about a man who had fallen for a girl much younger than he. She was feminine in appearance despite her often tomboyish demeanor and pointed lack of dresses.

"What are you reading?" he asked finally.

Ann closed her thick book, passing it over to the farmer. He looked over the cover and read the back; it was a fictional book about an airship crew in the 1950's who traveled the world.

"I got it from the library. Mary recommended it to me."

Jack laughed softly, handing it back to the redhead.

"I see," he murmured.

She smiled over at him before resuming her reading. Jack rolled over onto his back again, glancing over at Cliff on his other side. The wanderer was staring off at the water absentmindedly, looking somewhat annoyed; Jack couldn't help but feel like it had somehow been his fault.

"Karen!" a familiar voice called from behind them. Everyone turned their heads to spot Kai who had stepped out of his little shack. He wasn't wearing his bandana for the first time Jack could remember; his short, curly brown hair blew slightly in the breeze.

Jack turned back to Cliff, sighing, "Should I go talk to him?" The farmer glanced back to the blonde in the water who had become distraught enough over the sight of her ex-lover to lose the hat to the young blacksmith's apprentice.

"I suppose so," Cliff replied softly, shrugging. He didn't seem quite as annoyed as moments before.

Jack stood from the towel, trudging through the sand to the tanned-skinned man.

"Hey, we need to talk," Jack muttered sternly as he walked right past Kai and pushed his way into the man's shop. The place was cool thanks to the air conditioning and quite larger on the inside than Jack had expected. He heard the door closed and the farmer turned around to see Kai standing behind him.

"What's up?" Kai asked dryly. He looked upset, which Jack hadn't expected from such a seemingly cocky young man.

"'_What's up'_ is that you just broke one of my closest friend's hearts and she wants nothing to do with you," Jack snapped bitterly, taking a few steps closer to the man.

Kai let out a groan. "I didn't _mean_ to hurt her."

Jack blinked, surprised at this response. "What… do you mean?" He raised an eyebrow.

"I really care about her," Kai insisted with so much sincerity that Jack almost believed him.

"Then why did you sleep with Popuri?" Jack retorted.

"I don't know… Why did _you_?" Kai raised an eyebrow, the usual smirk returning to his lips. Jack felt the color instantly drain from his face.

"W-What the fuck are you talking about?" Jack stammered, unable to hide how flustered he had become.

"Don't worry," Kai rolled his eyes, "I didn't tell anyone."

Jack bit his lip, pondering for a moment whether he should just confirm it or continue to foolishly deny. "Did… she tell you?" he asked meekly after a long moment.

"Popuri? Yeah. But I wouldn't worry too much, she tells me everything." Kai shrugged, walking over to take a seat at one of the pale wooden tables.

Jack followed, seating himself across from Kai. The farmer buried his face in his hands.

"You're not going to tell anyone, are you…?" His words were muffled through his palms and the bandages wrapped around one of his hands. He could smell the bitter scent of the antibiotic cream through the cotton wrap.

Kai chuckled, "No… I guess I don't see any reason to right now."

Jack pulled his face from his palms. "Thanks, I guess…" he muttered miserably, "But I'm still mad at you for hurting my friend."

"You like her," Kai insisted bluntly. Jack's gaze tightened to a glare.

"No I don't."

"Don't play coy with me, farmer," Kai smirked.

Jack sighed heavily, "…Well, so what?"

"So," Kai chuckled, "I suggest you don't take this as an opportunity to 'make your move'."

Jack ground his teeth in frustration, staring at the man across from him. He should have never expected anything less than convoluted manipulation from the arrogant wanderer.

"Fuck you," Jack muttered suddenly, pushing himself from the table and heading towards the door. "I'm not going to play your damn games."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Kai chimed with a grin. Jack lingered at the door for a moment before shoving in open and slamming it behind him. The bright sunlight blinded him temporarily. He squinted against it, stepping back onto the hot sand and ambling over to his friends. Karen rushed over to him, looking distressed.

"What happened? Did you kick his ass?" she hissed quietly.

"Not quite," Jack muttered with a shrug.

Karen reached out, interlacing her soft fingers with one of his rough hands. "Let's just forget about him, ok?" she grinned brightly up at him. "From now on, things will be just like before he came."

Jack feigned a smile, allowing himself to be tugged back towards the water by the blonde.

"I doubt that," he mumbled inaudibly under his breath.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Five dollars to anyone who can tell me who Jack was comparing Ann's facial features to ;) As always, please review so I know if you're following along or if you have any comments/advice/support for me. :)


	11. Chapter 10: Cognitive Dissonance

**Chapter Ten**  
><strong>Cognitive Dissonance<strong>

The day following the afternoon at the beach seemed to bring a strange, familiar kind of normalcy reminiscent of before Kai's arrival in Mineral Town for the summer. Jack met Karen, Ann, and Cliff for lunch at the Inn on the relatively mild summer afternoon. The redhead had prepared a hearty meal for the group and they sat to discuss trivialities such as the beautiful weather and how Jack's plants were coming in that season. Karen exuded the same cheerful confidence so characteristic of the blonde, acting as if her heart had not just been brutally crushed in the careless hands of her now ex-lover the previous morning. Jack chalked it up to a wisdom that she could do better, but perhaps it was something else – something less ideal.

Karen sat beside him – unusually close – and spoke to Cliff across the table who sat beside the lightly freckled redhead. The young blonde was reciting a joke, faltering from time to time to giggle at the untold punch line. Jack watched her, her brilliant green eyes glistening as laughter bubbled from her lips. She was beautiful in every regard, almost to a point of agony. He felt a tension between them – not unpleasant but rather an inescapable pull like the force of a smooth, warm magnet to cold, hard steel. The moments were fleeting: the catch of a glance, a coy smile at the very corners of her lips, a gentle brushing of their legs beneath the table. She was infectious.

Ann didn't seem to miss the silent exhibition that was unfolding in front of her; her gaze caught his from time to time, a serious look in her eyes that somehow cut the farmer in a way he couldn't even begin to understand. She tugged at her fitted black v-neck and idled herself with twirling her auburn ponytail into ringlets around her slender index finger in a potent mix of annoyance and discomfort. She laughed at all the right moments but lacked the effervescence he had come to expect from her. The blue eyes that pierced him from behind her long lashes were slowly chipping away at him. Over the past few days, Jack was beginning to realize that Ann was a stunning enigma of whom had somehow – in the mere months since he had moved to Mineral Town – managed to weave herself intricately into his very existence. She knew him in a way that puzzled him: genuinely, without questions or prior expectations. A fear bubbled beneath the surface with the slowly dawning recognition that somehow as he grew closer to Karen, he felt her slipping away. In a lot of ways he needed her, though he didn't know why.

* * *

><p>The first summer harvest was impressive. The corn and tomatoes had come in plump and picturesque. Jack didn't know how he would have pulled off such a momentous feat without Cliff's help; in actuality, he wouldn't have. Cliff was intelligent, hardworking, and never annoying or overbearing. He listened patiently and they worked together in ripe, comfortable silence. When they spoke it was never forced. They laughed together, shared stories – Jack of his life in the city and Cliff of only the cheerful parts of his travels from town to town – and shared drinks in the much-deserved breaks from their labors. It extended much further than the temporary little business partnership they had entered into for the season; Jack had known for some time that Cliff was his best friend and Jack told him things he hadn't even told any of his friends in the city. He told Cliff all about Penelope and the drawn-out demise of his faith in human relationships. Cliff seemed to empathize, as he always did.<p>

Cliff spoke of Ann often. He talked about her smile and the way she walked. He reflected wistfully over the way her ponytail bounced when she was tending to customers at the Inn and the way her little nose scrunched up when she was frustrated. Jack listened to his friend's laments in silence, sometimes nodding in agreement or otherwise emitting some sort of grunt to let Cliff know that he was still listening. Cliff loved her, Jack thought. He saw it in the way his eyes got so distant when remembering her face, as if projected on the forefront of his mind to a detail one could almost reach out and touch. Jack didn't know how Ann felt about Cliff, and neither did the vagabond. Sometimes the farmer's heart ached at the thought – a subtle, gentle tug at the strings of his emotions. The twinge became more and more apparent as the days had worn on and his friend spoke of her. It was a little voice in his mind that Jack tried effortlessly to smother.

It peaked on the morning of the 11th of May, the day before the arrival of Duke and Manna's beloved daughter. Jack was in the fields, harvesting the okra into an old tin bucket and taking special care not to agitate his still wounded and bandaged hand as Cliff plucked the ripe, red tomatoes from their vines a few feet away.

"I kissed Ann." His voice broke the comfortable silence that had settled between them.

Jack looked up from his bucket. His heartbeat became slightly erratic in his bare chest.

"Oh?" His brows were furrowed as he seemed to have forgotten how one is supposed to react to the news of one's best friend finally making a move on the girl they've pined over for months.

"Yeah…" He placed a few tomatoes carefully into his own bucket.

"Did she… Kiss you back?" His focus had left the crops completely. He stared at his best friend, his view half obstructed by the leaves in front of him.

"She did." Cliff chuckled, an uncontainable grin spread wide across his handsome face.

"That's awesome, man," Jack mustered with the slightest edge of bitterness in his voice. Cliff didn't seem to notice.

They settled back into silence but a voice in Jack's head was carrying on a screaming monologue; his hands became clumsy on the vines, he felt momentarily a wave of anxious nausea. He tried to suffocate it, but this time it wouldn't be silenced.

The day dragged on and his mind seemed to ride a carousel, spinning endlessly in the same circle of agonizing insanity. Ann infected his every thought; she stood at the doorway of his mind and he invited her in. He thought of her plump lips. He thought of the curve of her spine when she wore a bathing suit, her flat stomach, her long, thin neck. He thought of the way she always smelled of freshly cut grass and suntan lotion. He wondered if her skin was soft. He wondered what her bra size was. He wondered how she moaned when a lover touched her in just the right way. And he thought of Cliff kissing her. Did he snake his arm around her slender waist? Did her pull her close? Did he touch her round, warm cheek? Did she think of him when she was kissing his best friend?

"Jack."

The farmer was ripped from his thoughts as he looked up from his work to see the elderly rancher, Barley, standing at the edge of the field where the grass tickled the moist soil.

"Hey Barley." Jack stood, wiping his dirty hands on his dark jeans. He ambled over to the old man, grateful for any relief of the madness. "What can I do for you?"

Barley smiled, scratching his bearded chin. "Well Jack, you've been on this farm for quite a few months now! It really seems to be coming along."

Jack returned the smile, nodding. "Thanks. I appreciate it." But he knew that wasn't it.

"I thought it's about time you started keeping some livestock here. I have several cows for sale, if you're interested. Fresh milk fetches a pretty good price in these parts."

Jack bit his lip, thinking over the proposition that had just been laid before him. One cow didn't seem like all too much trouble – and besides, with Cliff's help the two young men were always seemingly able to finish their work by mid-afternoon with plenty of time afforded to fuck around in the evenings and get drunk.

"Yeah Barely, I think that's a good idea," Jack said finally. "The barn was cleaned out just recently, so it's all set up for some livestock."

The old man's smile widened. "That's wonderful. Why don't we head over to my farm and take a look at the cows?"

After a quick trip into the house to get his envelope filled with spare cash, Jack called out to Cliff who had moved on to the butter beans.

"Hey, I'll be back, Cliff!"

The vagabond's head appeared, barely visible over the towering corn stalks.

"Alright!"

With that, the old man led the young farmer over to the prosperous Yodel Ranch.

Jack stood in the massive grassy field, surrounded by cattle. Most were grazing lazily at the green summer grass below their hooves, letting out the occasional moo as if to form some sort of lazy, uncoordinated song. Jack was staring critically at one in front of him: a standard black and white patched bovine with a sturdy build and a pink, engorged udder. Cows made Jack uneasy, though certainly not to the extent that horses did. Perhaps it was the cow's pointed lack of intelligence in contrast with their missive size. Or maybe it was the eyes.

"Yeah. This one's good," Jack announced finally, as if there had ever been the chance of any other decision considering the novice farmer knew very little about cattle rearing. He paid the old man his dues – which consisted of most of the money he had – and waited as Barley tied a red lead gently around the cow's neck.

"What are you going to name him?" The old rancher looked up hesitantly at Jack, presumably recalling the horse-naming incident in his first month in Mineral Town.

Jack scratched his chin in thought.

"I'll name her Hemera," he said finally.

Barley looked rather relieved. "That's a lovely name."

Minutes later, Jack appeared back on his farm, accompanied by the massive cow. Cliff looked up from the garlic patches he had been tending to. His face contorted into a comical mix of surprise and confusion.

"Jeez, Jack. I let you out of my sight for twenty minutes and you go get yourself hitched to a cow?"

Jack laughed, shrugging his bare shoulders nonchalantly. "What can I say? She seduced me with her udders."

* * *

><p>Night fell as it always did and brought a welcome relief from the heat. The air was still warm as it always was in the summer, but the young farmer's body appreciated the sun's temporary retreat. He showered in the modest bathroom of his home, washing away the sweat and dirt he had accumulated from another long day of labor. He tried not to get the bandages around his stitches too wet, though it seemed an impossible feat. The cool water soothed the reddened incline of his shoulders from toiling too long in the field without a shirt. His body was slender as ever – the slightest hint of a few visible ribs to either side of his breast bone. His muscles often ached in the evenings, keeping him from drifting off into a well-earned slumber. Sometimes Jack felt his body might give under the strain. But he tried not to think about it; like many things, he shoved it deep into the dusty recesses of his mind.<p>

Clean, he redressed in a pair of boxer-briefs and one of the few remaining clean pairs of dark-wash jeans he had left from his last load of laundry. His bare feet pattered against the hardwood floors as he walked over towards Apollo who was asleep beside the massive old television. His foot caught suddenly on something and in an instant he came crashing down to the floor. He groaned loudly as he rolled onto his back and propped himself up on his elbows. Jack's brows furrowed, trying to decipher what had caused the sudden tumble. He noticed one of the floorboards ever so slightly ajar. How strange.

"What the fuck…" he grumbled, clambering to his feet.

Just as he was moving to investigate, a familiar voice chimed from behind him.

"Jack!"

The young farmer glanced over his shoulder to see the alluring blonde standing in the doorway. She was wearing a pair of white denim shorts and a purple shirt that showed just enough breast to leave him hyperaware of his lonely groin.

"Do you ever knock?" Jack raised an eyebrow and smirked.

Karen shrugged, leaning against the doorframe with a certain sort of casualness that somehow came across as sexy. She observed his messy, still-dripping auburn hair and his bare torso.

"I was hoping you'd be naked. Looks like I just missed out."

They both laughed.

"Do you want a drink?" Jack didn't know why he asked a question he already knew the answer to. Before she could respond, he was already heading for the liquor cabinet.

"Of course," she grinned, leaning down to pet Apollo who had awoken and was already begging for attention.

Jack poured bourbon into two glasses over a single ice cube in each. Bringing her the glass, she took it gratefully, turning her attention from the amiable pooch to her human companion.

"I really just came here because I wanted to go out and watch the fireflies. Your farm is one of the best places to do it," she smiled sweetly.

There was the slightest bit of innocence in her current demeanor that was a rare sight for the woman. Karen always seemed so confident – so experienced. She was the kind of girl who you could tell had been taken by the hair and had her face rubbed into the world from a young age. Jack didn't know what to attribute that to; her parents seemed well enough despite her father's meager ways. She didn't seem the type to trust too easily or to give her whole heart so readily. It was admirable and beautiful in its own right.

"Let's go then."

Jack led her out the front door and stepped out onto the soft, cool grass that prickled his bare feet. The chirp of crickets and the droning hum of the cicada's serenaded them as they perched themselves on the lid of the large wooden shipping crate. It was dark – a kind of darkness that Jack had never experienced in the city. The inky sky above them was dotted with thousands upon thousands of tiny bright stars. The universe scared Jack sometimes – something he would never admit to. It was overwhelming to ponder and even try to wrap his mind around: just how tiny and insignificant he and everyone he knew was in the grand scheme of things. It felt like too much to take.

"Look!" Karen whispered as she pointed out to the expansive field.

Dozens of tiny glowing lights were dancing above the crops. They moved in an intricate ballet that seemed to sync with the symphony of insects that came from all around them. It was a beautiful spectacle.

They basked in silence for a long time, interrupted only by the occasional clinking of ice against glass as they sipped from their drinks. Their bare arms brushed together from time to time, sometimes their soft skin lingering against one another only to pull away once they'd had their fill. It was a silent, unspoken intimacy. Jack glanced to the young woman beside him once or twice, her feminine features illuminated just enough by the nearly-full moon above them for him to see.

"Jack?" Karen broke the comforting quiet.

"Yeah?"

"What was your ex girlfriend like?"

Jack looked over to her with furrowed brows. She was staring into her almost-empty glass. There was a slight pain in her expression that Jack didn't understand.

"Which one?" he chuckled.

"Your last one – the one you used to live with. You mention her sometimes." Karen stared out at the fireflies.

"You mean Penelope?"

"Yeah… Will you tell me about her?" She looked up at him for the first time in a long time. Her eyes were wide and melancholy.

"Well…" Jack took a large gulp from his drink. "We dated for two years, lived together for most of that. She was one of my best friends for a long time before we started dating. I really had a lot of trust and faith in her. She was a really important person in my life for a long time." He too stared down into his drink now. Jack never even liked thinking about Penny anymore, let alone talking about her.

"Why did you guys break up?"

Jack lingered on the question, not quite knowing how to formulate a response to something that was still so unknown to him.

"I don't know…" He shrugged his bare shoulders. "Things change, people change, I supposed." He looked over at her. She mustered an insincere smile.

"Did you love her?"

Jack nodded without hesitation, "Yes, very much. I built my life around her for a long time. When people like that leave… It's hard to know what to do with yourself. You feel… Lost." He stared wistfully at the silhouettes of his crops.

"Do you…" her voice faltered and she bit her lip, "do you still love her?"

This question took him by surprise. He stared at her for a long moment in disbelief. If he told her he wasn't, would that have been a lie? Jack didn't even know; it wasn't something he thought about.

"Karen, that's a complicated questi-"

"Was she pretty?" she cut him off, seemingly not needing nor wanting to hear any further of his last response.

He chuckled, "Yes, she was very pretty."

The young woman fell silent, presumably exhausted of any more questions about the unknown girl living her life in a far off place who once shared her heart and loins with the man beside her.

"I want a love like that someday," she said finally, her voice almost a whisper.

Jack shot her an incredulous glance. "What about you and Kai?"

She laughed at this – a light, genuine laugh. "I didn't love Kai and Kai didn't love me. It was a cheap affair to fill the space and a need that we both had. I cared about him a lot but… I don't know what that was, but it wasn't love."

"Oh… I see." Jack suddenly felt foolish over all the sleepless nights he had spent pondering that very question and assuming the worst. Silence settled between them again.

Finally, "Jack, do you think I'm pretty?"

He didn't understand the question for a moment – not because her words had faltered but because he couldn't believe that she had spoken them.

"Jeez, Karen, _of course_ I think you're pretty. I think you're one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen," he spoke earnestly.

Her eyes glistened ever so slightly in the moonlight as she stared up at him. "You really mean that?"

"Absolutely. I think you can have any man you want, Karen."

She seemed to ponder this statement for a moment, finishing the rest of her bourbon and setting the glass down on the lid of the shipping crate they were perched upon.

Their gazes met – blue and green – and they smiled to each other as if, for that one moment, they both just knew. Karen leaned and Jack met her halfway, their lips gently colliding in a deep, all-encompassing kiss. It was as if a switch had flipped in them; their mouths became greedy, their hands flirted with the innocent places of each other's bare skin – his hand on the nape of her neck, her fingertips exploring the flesh of his back. Her mouth tasted of sweet bourbon. They parted occasionally for air or to purr a dreamy sigh before the pink flesh of their lips met again.

Jack thought of Ann, though he didn't want to. He thought of the freckles on her nose and the way she giggled whenever he said something foolish. He thought of the night he danced with her in her room as a storm raged just outside the window. _Be good to me_.

Karen pulled away suddenly. They caught each other's glances and smiled in the awkward, mischievous way that children do when they've crossed an invisible but forbidden line. Her attention then turned to a single firefly that had made its way over to them, bobbing and fluttering by the woman's beautiful face. Pesky little voyeur. Karen slipped off the wooden crate and picked up her empty glass. Jack watched her pensively as she stalked the beautiful insect. Eventually she encased her prey, bringing it over to show the young man.

"Look," she cooed as she held the glass to him, her hand clasped over the top to ensure that it did not escape.

"It's beautiful," he murmured in observation.

She smiled, pecking him lightly on the lips.

Karen stayed for some time and they continued to sit on the crate. They neither justified nor defined what they had done. Their fingers intertwined, their knees brushed together as they talked. They gossiped about the townspeople and argued lightheartedly over foolish, hypothetical situations. They laughed together and enjoyed each other's occasional touch or the intermittent brush of their lips. He was happy, though the occasional tug at one of the strings of his heart left him momentarily anxious and confused. He _did_ want this; he had yearned for it for so long. Karen's touch left his heart fluttering and her voice soothed his tired soul. Yet still, something deep and hidden in the darkest corners of his mind kept whispering, '_here I am - look at me, look at me'_.

She left eventually – after a long string of kisses but not before producing a letter that was sitting in his mailbox.

"You should check your mail more often." She smiled coyly as she handed him the white envelope before turning to leave the farm.

Jack stumbled into his house, staring down at the letter in his hands. The return address read in girlish handwritten letters, '_Claire Middleton_'. He sighed softly, setting it on his bedside table before flipping off the lights and crawling into bed. The news from his recently discovered cousin would have to wait; Jack laid in the dark and tried to make sense of everything that had occurred that day with a combination of uncontainable joy and utter, miserable confusion.

Eventually, he found sleep – blissfully unaware of just how much Mineral Town was about to change by the time he woke up.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> There's a lot of big stuff happening in the next two chapters so they might be a little slow to be posted because I want to make sure I do them the justice they deserve. As always, please review if you're following along and have any comments, feedback, and/or suggestions for me!

** Hemera is the primeval goddess of daylight and the sun in Greek mythology.


	12. Chapter 11: Aja Returns

**Chapter Eleven**  
><strong>Aja Returns<strong>

"Jack! Jack!"

The pounding of a tiny fist against the old wooden door of his home paired with the impatient squeal of his name from a voice riddled with a fond familiarity pulled the twenty-three year old from a dream he had been having of – oddly enough – the very girl who beckoned him in that moment. He pulled himself, groaning sleepily, from the comfort of his sheets and walked from his modest bedroom over to the living room's front door where his mutt had seated himself and was stewing in a mix of excitement and rare protective instinct. Jack pulled the door open, squinting against the light of the early morning sun and making out the face of Ann. Her blue eyes were wide and frantic and the wispy bangs that framed her youthful face were in disarray. Her rosy pink lips were parted as she breathed a bit heavy, presumably from running to his farm in her haste.

"What's going on?" he croaked rather sluggishly as he lifted a hand to shield the sun and better see the face of which he had just been indulging in – much to his shame and disgrace – in the comforts of sleep. His nighttime projections of her had never really done the girl justice.

"Aja's here! She's back! She just got in this morning." The words poured so quickly from her mouth that they threatened to trip over one another. She was dressed in a pair of denim shorts and a dark navy blue v-neck that showed off the few tiny freckles which dotted her pale breastbone.

Jack chuckled, leaning against the doorframe to thwart Apollo's attempts to wriggle past his master's legs and assault the girl outside in a parade of wet, slobbery dog kisses. "That's great. Have you seen her, then?"

The slowly rising tensions between them had seemed to, at least for the time being, dissipated. Jack wondered how long it would be before Ann found out about Karen, or if Ann was ever going to come clean about kissing Cliff…

The redhead nodded vigorously. "Yeah. She really, _really_ wants to meet you. Come on!"

The young farmer looked down at himself – shirtless and still wearing the previous day's jeans – and laughed. "Alright, alright. But gimme a second."

He opened the door to let her in and simultaneously unleashed his beast of a canine companion. Apollo jumped up on the girl with utter disregard for just how much he weighed, and began to lick at the giggling redheads chin. Jack shook his head with a smirk and headed back in the direction of the tiny bedroom built off to the side of the old house, across from the modest kitchen.

In an all-too familiar fashion, he came crashing down to the dark wooden floor. This time he landed with a good grunt of his weight on his already injured hand; he could feel his skin strain and tense against the stitches beneath the white cotton wraps.

"Fuck," he groaned loudly and rolled into a sitting position to cradle his hand to his bare chest.

Ann, having witnessed, came rushing over to his side, kneeling down and gazing at him with a worried expression.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

Jack – grimacing at the pain in his throbbing hand – nodded in the direction of the culprit to his literal downfall. It was that stupid loose floorboard.

"Oh…" Ann murmured softly, brows pulled together in that adorable way they did. Apollo had arrived to offer a series of sympathetic licks to his master's cheek. "You should probably fix that."

Rolling his eyes, the man clambered to his feet, grumbling, "It's on my list, trust me."

In his room, he dressed in a plain white shirt and a pair of fitted black jeans. He tousled his shaggy auburn hair in the mirror mounted beside his dresser. His bang had been tickling past his eyebrows for weeks.

"Ann, do you think you could trim my hair?" Jack called as he emerged from his bedroom to see the girl perched on his dining table, one black ballet flat dangling from her toes and a pink bubble of gum blown from her mouth. It popped at she looked over at him.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever. Later," she said dismissively as she hopped off the table, "Let's go!"

* * *

><p>By the time they arrived, a small crowd had gathered outside the winery: Manna, Duke, Gray, Karen, Sasha, Jeff, Zack, Popuri, Rick, Lillia, Pastor Carter, and Anna were all huddled around a young woman of whom Jack could not distinguish past the crowd around her, an excited chatter filling the sweet morning air. They all glanced over at the pair who approached, smiling warmly.<p>

The crowd parted and Jack locked eyes with the stranger of whom he had only seen in the old childhood photos scattered around Duke and Manna's home. Aja was short in stature – likely barely surpassing five-foot – and quite thin with long, pitch-black hair that was pulled into a high ponytail and a pale, clear complexion. She had perfectly sculpted eyebrows, high cheek bones and heavily lidded eyes that were dark and piercing; her features were strong but appealingly feminine – the perfect melting of her mother's soft beauty and her father's striking features. There was a wry, confident smirk across her lips that had clearly been embedded in her genes courtesy of Duke. Her loose black cotton sundress – tight in the bodice against her modest bosom and ample in the skirt – rustled in the light breeze. Single pearls adorned the lobes of her ears. She had the appearance of class and regality paired with a potent aura of sexuality and pure independence boiling beneath: the kind of woman who smiles so sweetly and bats her eyelashes as she curls a man around her finger – fucks you then kicks you out simply because she doesn't like men who linger. Aja looked like the kind of girl who could get a man into a lot of trouble.

"Here's a face I don't recognize. You must be Jack." Her voice was surprisingly soft and friendly. Aja extended a hand to which Jack grasped her thin fingers with his own, un-bandaged hand. It took him a moment to realize that no words had come out of his mouth.

"It's nice to meet you." The statement felt clumsy on his tongue but no one seemed to notice.

Jack glanced over to Manna who was standing behind her daughter, thick trails of mascara disfiguring her cheeks. Tears were still welling in her eyes as she clutched a soiled kerchief in one slightly trembling hand. Duke stood beside his wife looking gravely serious – not in a stern way but in the way a man gets when he tries so desperately to contain the tears that threaten just behind his eyes. His lips were pursed tightly, perhaps for fear that if he opened them his cries would begin to pour out. He was staring daggers at Jack. Jack tried to avoid his gaze by looking to Karen who was staring fondly at him with a mischievous little smile. He smiled back as they stared at each other in that silent, knowing way that screamed, _I want to go to you, I want to touch you but I can't_.

"Oh, isn't this just so wonderful!" Popuri gushed as she threw her arms around Aja in what must have been their twelfth embrace.

"It is!" Manna blubbered through her uncontainable joy. Sasha was stroking her best friend's shoulder with a smile.

"We were just going to go over to see Elli and Mary – they don't know she's here. Why don't you come, Jack?" Popuri offered cheerfully. It was so strange – why didn't she hate him for what he had done to her weeks ago? It still baffled him.

As Jack opened his mouth to agree, Duke interjected, "I'd like to have a quick chat with Jack first." The man's voice cracked slightly.

"Oh, Duke, give it a rest!" Aja whined, pointedly referring to her father by his given name.

Jack exchanged an uneasy glance with Ann before breaking away from the small crowd to follow the winery owner in the direction of the Inn. They walked in tense silence.

Inside, Duke seated himself at a table in one of the back corners of the empty Inn and Jack hesitantly sat across from the man. With the absence of Ann, it was Doug who appeared beside their table, clearly picking up on the awkwardness between them as if it emanated contagiously in all directions.

"Can I get you two anything?" His usual gruff bark was reduced to a more gentle inquiry.

"Two beers," Duke replied flatly.

Doug hesitated, and then cleared his throat. "Duke, it's eight in the mornin', I'm not serving alcohol for 'nother… Oh, nine hours er so."

"_Beers_," Duke reiterated sharply, to which Doug took the hint and quickly shuffled away.

Jack sat with Duke in ripe silence, the farmer leaning back in his chair and staring expectantly at the man across from him who simply stared off in one direction with a far-away look. After a minute that seemed to drag on for hours, he lifted a leathery hand to wipe away a bit of moisture that had managed to slip through and accumulate at the corner of one of his tired eyes.

"Aja said that you were the one that found her – that you sent her a letter and asked her to come back." He was staring at a large, black and white photo of a landscape – probably taken by Kano – that was mounted on the nearby wall, though not really seeing it.

"I did," Jack admitted softly, crossing his arms against his chest. Ever since the incident with Manna months ago, Jack hadn't exchanged many words with Duke but rather plenty of threatening stares. Duke cleared his throat, allowing silence to settle between them as he seemed to contemplate how to properly say what he wanted to convey to the farmer.

"Normally I would tell someone like you to mind your own business and go fuck yourself." He sat up in his chair. Duke's gaze caught Jack's for the first time. "But you don't know what this means to my wife-" He spoke the words carefully and with pointed emphasis. "-How much it means to both of us."

Jack stared at him for a long time in silence. Even in what had to be one of the happiest moments in Duke's life, Duke still retained his masculine composure as if to allow it to falter would be the greatest sin of all. Jack couldn't hate Duke; he could see the sincerity in his eyes and hear it in his words. Jack sat across from a man who bottled a storm of unsorted, un-reconciled emotions and unleashed them on those he loved the most when – inevitably – they became too much to bear and burst inside of him. In many ways he was not unlike Jack and perhaps seeing even a fraction himself reflected in the older man's face – so stern yet so weary in the eyes – across from him scared the young farmer in its honesty. Both Jack and Duke hurt people they never wanted to hurt, and felt powerless to stop the cycles.

Jack knew what it was like to fumble through life so recklessly: to take things because he could; to use and consume people in an attempt to figure himself out, ultimately at the expense of others. A selfish, greedy fire burns inside the hearts of everyone as a glaring reminder to the faults in human nature. Jack, like most people, learned to smolder the flames. But from time to time he'd grow careless – forget who he was and who he had worked so hard to be – and the fire would consume him, burning himself and holes in the people his selfish fingers would touch. It's easy to lose oneself when one doesn't fundamentally yet know who one is.

Without another word, Duke pushed himself from the table and walked straight out of the Inn. Jack stood from the table, staring in the direction the man had just exited and trying to figure out exactly what had just happened. Doug appeared over his shoulder – two frothy pints of beer in his hand – and watched the door.

"What was that about?" His thick brows were furrowed in curiosity.

"I don't even know…" Jack muttered, looking up at the man and admiring the familiar color of his hair – though his, unlike Ann's, was beginning to gather streaks of grey. Jack heaved a sigh. "Doug, can I talk to you about something?"

The bar owner stared at the young man's pained expression. "'Of course."

They both seated themselves back at the table, Jack taking a sip of his beer and Doug gratefully claiming Duke's forgotten brew for himself.

"What's bothering you, m' boy?" Doug smoothed his moustache with his thumb and forefinger as he stared intensely at the young man across from him.

Jack slumped back in his chair, watching the tiny bubbles rising in his glass of beer as he tried to formulate all that was weighing on him into those neat, careful words that always seemed to escape him when he needed them most.

"Have you…" Jack started as he sat up in his chair, still not daring to look the man in the eyes. "Have you ever wanted something _so_ badly… And then got it… And then realized that it…. It wasn't quite what you thought it would be?" Blue gaze flicked up to meet the bar owner's.

Doug chuckled, raising an eyebrow and responding jokingly, "Well, innit that the way it always goes?"

Jack gave an uneasy smile of which caused Doug to turn to a more serious tone at the look of the young farmer's despair. The older gentleman mulled over the question for a long moment.

"Things aren't always the way we expect 'em to be, I reckon – especially when it's somethin' we hyped up so much in our head. Whatever's troubling you, give it some time an' let the dust settle. Maybe it feels different 'cause it's new an' sometimes new things take some getting used to, you know? If you give it a fair chance an' it still don't feel right, then you'll know."

Jack mused over this response before his face broke into a grateful smile. "Thanks, Doug. I think you're right."

Pushing himself from the table, Jack fished into his back pocket to find some money for the two beers Duke had ordered and so politely abandoned, but Doug lifted a hand.

"This one's on me," he insisted.

Jack chuckled, "Thank you, Doug."

The young man turned just in time to see Cliff ambling down the stairs from the second floor of the Inn.

"Hey man, I was just about to head over to the farm. What're you doing here?" Cliff stared curiously at his friend as he came to the bottom of the steps.

"Oh, just stopped by to ask Doug something. Did you hear that Manna and Duke's daughter came back this morning?"

Cliff's features distorted in surprise. "Aja came back? Seriously? I heard a bunch of commotion outside my window this morning but I had no idea what it was about."

The two men walked side by side as they made their way towards the front doors.

Jack laughed, "Yeah, it's pretty unbelievable. You should see her too, she's pretty hot."

They both chuckled. Stepping outside, Jack noticed Karen leaning against the brick building, presumably waiting for him.

"Hey," she smiled as she walked over to them.

"Hey Cliff, I'll be over there in a few minutes, alright?" Jack shot his farmhand a glance loaded with significance. Cliff instantly understood; Cliff didn't know about the previous night, but he was well-aware of Jacks feelings for Karen.

"Oh yeah, sure thing," he looked to Karen and offered a smile, "See you later, Karen."

Jack stood beside the blonde, watching his friend until he disappeared around the corner. Looking both ways to make sure no one was around, a sly smile spread across his face as he turned to the girl and snaked an arm around her waist to pull her in for a kiss.

"The girls are over at the library. Did you want to come?" she asked between kisses, her sweet lips lingering against his.

"I can't," Jack sighed, releasing the girl from his grasp. She pouted up at him with a full lip that was begging to be bitten.

"_Puh-lease?_"

Jack chuckled, "Farm's not gonna run itself, unfortunately."

Karen huffed a sigh, looking a twinge annoyed. "Well everyone going to the bar tonight to celebrate Aja coming home. Will you be there at least?"

Jack mulled it over for a second before nodding. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you there." He pecked her one last time before turning to head off for yet another long day of labor.

* * *

><p>The Inn was exceptionally crowded that night and jovial music poured at full-blast from the speaker systems. Faces Jack had never seen at the bar before suddenly dotted the room; even the likes of Mary, Elli, Doctor Trent, and Pastor Carter – the last people Jack would have ever expected to see at the bar – had come to join in the celebration. The room was filled with laugher and the sound of people's conversations fighting to be heard over the music. Many of the townspeople seemed already quite intoxicated and those who were not were pleasantly tipsy instead.<p>

Jack entered after the day's work had been finished and he had indulged in a much-needed shower. Cliff was already there, sipping a beer and chatting with Rick, Gray and Karen over at the bar. From the doorway he caught the blonde's gaze through the sea of people. She grinned and waved him over.

"Hey," he called over the music as he took a seat beside Gray.

"Hey," they all echoed. Suddenly a beer had appeared in front of him. He downed it gratefully in an attempt to catch up with the rest of the people crammed into the room. Moments later, Doug set another in front of him in passing.

"Girl sure gets settled in real fast, doesn't she?" Rick nodded suggestively in the direction of Aja who was chatting up Doctor Trent; her mouth was bubbling with laughter and Trent had a rare smile plastered on his face. Karen glared at Rick.

"Oh, shut up! It's not like that. She's just a flirty girl. Leave her alone!"

"Why isn't Elli over here?" Jack asked the man beside him curiously. Gray was looking rather morose.

"We broke up. Three days ago," he replied flatly before giving his beer another sip.

Jack's face softened, "Oh… I'm sorry to hear that man." He clapped Gray on the back and laughed softly, "Plenty of other fish in the sea though, right?" Raising an eyebrow, Jack nodded in the direction of the alluring young Aja. Then he lifted his glass before downing his second pint.

A flash of purple caught Jack's eye as he turned to see Kai had appeared in the doorway. This didn't seem to go unnoticed by the others seated at the bar; Jack glanced to Karen who was suddenly acting very interested in the thin layer of foam on her beer.

"Should I go kick his ass?" Rick offered to Karen.

It put a humorous imagine in Jack's mind: Rick trying to beat up _anyone_.

Karen scowled, "No, don't be stupid! Kai and I are civil. Everything's just fine."

Jack felt a twinge of what he thought was jealousy but could just as easily have been annoyance.

"Good, 'cause he's coming over here right now," Gray muttered.

Indeed Kai was weaving through the people and heading towards them.

"Where's Ann?" Jack asked suddenly to Cliff, who shrugged in response.

"Dunno, man. I haven't seen her since I got here."

"I'm gonna go look for her," Jack announced as he snatched up another beer that had appeared in front of him, courtesy of Doug, and walked away from the bar just before Kai had managed to arrive. Jack still had no idea how to deal with the entire Kai-blackmail situation. Stalling was the mature thing to do, right? He had decided so.

Fumbling up the stairs of the Inn, Jack managed to down the entirety of his third pint by the time he reached the door of Ann's room. He knocked lightly and lingered outside, unable to hear any potential noises due to the loud music that seemed to have only marginally decreased in volume despite his being much further away. The door swung open after a few moments; Ann stood in the doorway wearing a strapless black dress with a ribbon tied beneath the bust. Her long red hair was down and had been curled into thick, loose ringlets that fell down her back. Around her eyes was a considerable amount of smoky black make-up and her already naturally rosy cheeks had been reddened. Jack had seen Ann wear a light touch of make-up often – just a little mascara or a winged stroke of eyeliner over each eye – but nothing like that. And a dress? The only time Jack had seen her wear a dress was at the Goddess Festival when he first arrived in Mineral Town. Through the make-up, Ann's eyes appeared slightly puffy and irritated and her little nose was an angry shade of pink. Jack blinked in surprise.

"What're you doing up here?" he asked, walking into her small bedroom after she had stepped aside to invite him in. She closed the door behind her which seemed to stifle the music a considerable amount.

"Oh, you know…" She shrugged awkwardly and stared at the floor.

"Should I even ask…?" Jack chuckled softly, sitting down on her blue bed sheets and admiring the girl in front of him. He could feel his cheeks tingle as a result of the alcohol he had so hastily consumed.

Ann rolled her eyes before forcing what she could of a meek smile.

"Aja's fault; she did this to me. I agreed to let her play 'dress-up' and she really didn't hold back. I look totally stupid, don't I?" She tugged self-consciously at the dress, the same way Jack had seen her do at the Goddess Festival many months prior.

Jack shook his head, "You don't look stupid. I think you look beautiful." Then again, Jack couldn't recall a time when he didn't find the girl in front of him beautiful. She was probably just as beautiful the moment she awoke in the morning – bare-faced, clad in pajamas and her hair and tangled mess.

"I _feel_ stupid…" Ann grumbled, rubbing her nose.

"Is that why you've been up here…?" His brows furrowed. The thought of Ann hiding in her room for such a reason made him sad.

"Sort of…" Ann sighed and walked over to her nightstand, seating herself and staring miserably at her reflection in the mirror.

Jack shrugged his shoulder, "If you don't want to wear the dress, then don't wear the dress." He silently considered – though only momentarily – lunging forward, ripping it right off of her, and pushing her onto the bed.

For some reason his spoken suggestion seemed to make Ann only more distraught. Her eyes welled with tears as she stared at the young man in the mirror behind her, but she quickly wiped them away.

"Ann, tell me what's wrong. I don't understand why you're upset." Jack walked over to the girl and forcibly rotated the chair she was seated on, perching himself on the end of her bed across from her, so close that their knees brushed together.

"I feel so foolish, Jack," she whispered, staring at her hands which rested in her lap.

He didn't understand. "Why? Why would you feel foolish?"

Ann drew in a shaky breath, glancing up to lock her sad gaze with his concerned, blue eyes.

"Because… Because Aja's so beautiful and sure of herself, and so is Karen. Popuri and Elli are so feminine and girly, and even Mary has the pretty bookworm thing going for her."

Jack frowned deeply, still not understanding, "So what?"

"So! So where does that leave me? I'm not like any of those girls!" A tear slipped down her cheek, leaving a black trail behind it.

Call it impulse, but Jack lifted a hand to gently wipe it away with his thumb. He had never seen Ann cry before and it made him feel like shit.

"But that doesn't matter. You're Ann and you're beautiful and hard-working and intelligent and funny and adorable and fun to be around and endlessly patient – you know, because you put up with me and Cliff's bullshit all the time –" both of their faces broke into smiles, "You have good taste in music and literature and you're always kicking people's asses at card games," Ann laughed at this, "And you're one of the best friends I've ever had and any guy would be lucky to be with you." Jack thought of Cliff and his heart began to ache a little. "It doesn't matter if you wear dresses or jeans or a pound of make-up or none at all; you're always beautiful and you're always kind and you always light up the room whenever you walk in…"

Jack trailed off as they stared at each other with serious, meaningful expressions – as if searching each other's faces for answers to questions their lips could never formulate.

Ann stood suddenly from her chair. Had she found her answers?

"Thank you, Jack," she smiled to him as he stared up curiously at her, "I think I'm ready to go down now."

Jack chuckled, standing from the bed. "Dress and all?"

Ann glanced down at the black dress, considering it for a moment before nodding. "Yeah. I think if I drink enough, I won't mind it so much."

Laughing, Jack rolled his eyes. "That's always a good plan."

The girl turned quickly to the mirror and wiped what she could of the makeup from her eyes and cheeks, though much remained despite her efforts.

"Come on."

Smiling, she opened her door and led Jack back down the hallway.

* * *

><p>The bottom floor of the Inn had erupted in a rhythmic clap to the song that was being blasted. As they descended the stairs, the bodies of many dancing pairs came into view – Aja and Zack, Duke and Manna, Sasha and Jeff, Trent and Elli, Pastor Carter and Popuri, Kano and Anna, Rick and Mary – twirling and stomping and laughing. The rest of the townsfolk encircled the dance floor, stomping their feet and clapping their hands drunkenly and cheering the dancers on.<p>

Ann slipped over to the bar to take a couple shots and Jack wandered to one of the edges of the room. That's when Jack spotted Harris, leaning against the brick wall and looking as if he was either going to be violently ill or was going to cry – or both. He was staring in the direction of the dancers and Jack glanced over his shoulder to spot Aja, who had clambered onto one of the wooden tables and was laughing and twirling and stomping her boot to the music. Aja was a forbidden fruit he knew Harris would never be able to taste again. In truth, Jack didn't much care if Aja had only been a child of a mere fourteen when she had apparently fallen into a sordid affair – as consensual as such a thing could ever be – with the police officer. Harris was watching her as if he was staring at his own heart existing outside of himself, dancing forever just out of reach. Jack wondered if that was what his own face looked like when he looked at Ann.

"Dance with me?"

Jack turned to see Karen grinning up at him, her cheeks pink the way they always became when she drank an especially large amount. He grinned back, taking her outstretched hand and leading her onto the makeshift dance floor.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Whew, this chapter was a bit longer than most of the others, but I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter is a very important one as well, so it will probably be a little on the longer side. Please read and review! :)


	13. Chapter 12: The Loose Floorboard

**Chapter Twelve**  
><strong>The Loose Floorboard<strong>

A wave of nausea greeted Jack and pulled him from his heavy sleep. Letting out a loud groan, he rolled over onto his back and squinted against the dull light that snaked its way through the slits in the blinds. There was a throbbing deep in his brain that was turning the distant sound of rain into an agonizing symphony that echoed in his skull. The events of the previous night had been shattered into fragments that he was struggling to piece back together; he remembered being with Ann in her room, dancing with Karen, talking to Gray, then watching Cliff dancing with Ann… After that, things got a bit vague.

Jack shifted on his bed into a sitting position – being mindful of the churning of his stomach – and glanced over at his bedside table. The alarm clock with its rickety old hands mocked that it was nearly half past noon. How long had he been out the night before? He couldn't even recall how he had gotten home. Sighing, he glanced over at the small white envelope – still left unopened – that he had set on the nightstand days prior. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands, reading over the name of his cousin of whom he hadn't even known existed just a few weeks prior. Ripping it opened, he pulled out a white piece of paper that smelled faintly of sweet summer flowers.

* * *

><p><em>Jack,<em>

_I was wondering if I was ever going to hear from you! Although I'm sorry to know that your father withheld my existence from you, I am a little glad to know that the reason you didn't write me for all this time wasn't because you didn't want to hear from me, which is what I had grown to suspect._

_Since you told me about yourself and I assume you don't know anything about me, let me introduce myself. My name is Claire Elisabeth Middleton. I'm twenty years old and will be turning twenty-one in a few months. I just completed my degree in Baking and Pastry Arts a few weeks ago but I've been working at a bakery for years now to pay the bills. My dream is to open up my own bakery and pastry shop someday. _

_I think it's so exciting that you've decided to take up our grandfather's farm. To be honest, I don't know very much about our grandfather. My grandmother, Elisabeth, doesn't like to talk about him very much, though I don't know why. I've only seen two photographs of him before, but I knew that he was a farmer in Mineral Town. What is it like out there? I know in your letter you said you grew up in the city. It must be so different! From what I've heard, it's a really small town on an island. Are the people friendly there? Do you ever get bored? Was it hard adjusting to being a farmer? I didn't really grow up with much of a family besides my parents and my grandmother, Elisabeth, which is why I've been trying to find my other relatives and learn about our family's history. Have you learned much about our grandfather?_

_Please write again soon!_

_- Claire_

* * *

><p>Deeming himself too hung over to even attempt a proper response, Jack let the letter fall from his hand back onto the nightstand. The good thing about rain was that it got Jack and Cliff off field-duty for the day. All the farmer had to do was to feed and care for the animals and he would have the rest of the day to lie around and recover from a night of heavy drinking and celebration. Pulling himself from the warmth of his comforter, Jack stumbled over to the mirror mounted by his bedroom door. Beneath one of his eyes was a cut surrounded by a bruise of bloated yellows and blushing, indecent pinks. When the hell had that happened? His brows furrowed in confusion as he leaned closer to get a better look in the dimly lit room, one hand lifting to the mysterious wound. Wincing at his own touch, he sighed before turning from the mirror to go get dressed for the day.<p>

Once clothed, Jack stumbled out into the main room of his house and over to the kitchen to find the aspirin. He chased a few white pills with a shot of whiskey in the hopes of taking the edge off his headache but the taste of alcohol left him retching over the sink. When his stomach had settled again, Jack turned to survey his living room. A trail of clothes littered the floor from the front door leading to the bedroom: two old Converse, a pair of jeans, a black jacket, and a white shirt. He was pretty impressed that he had somehow managed to wriggle out of all those clothes in his blacked-out state. Apollo was asleep, belly-up, beneath the dining table. His gaze lingered over the wooden slats of the floor before coming to rest on the one that had come slightly ajar and had caused Jack two tumbles to the ground. Wandering over to the floorboard, he seated himself in front of it for inspection. After a long pause, Jack balled his uninjured hand into a fist and brought it down on the loose floorboard in one swift motion. The wooden slat shifted back into place while simultaneously emitting a strange echoing _thud_. Frowning in confusion, Jack hit his fist against the floorboard once more, yielding the same odd sound that hinted it was hollow beneath the board.

"What the fuck…" he mumbled. Moving his fist a few boards away, he smacked his hand against a different board. There was a dull, shallow thud – the kind one would expect when hitting a wooden floor. He brought his hand back to the previously loose board and struck it once again to hear the same hollow sound. By that point, Apollo had been rattled awake and pranced over to observe his master's unusual behavior.

Climbing back to his feet, Jack went to the large wooden toolbox beside the front door. He dug through it for several minutes before producing a flat-blade screwdriver. As he settled back in front of the floorboard, Jack began to attempt to wedge the screwdriver between the wooden slats and gain enough leverage to pry the peculiar floorboard back up. He labored to no avail until eventually a knock came at his front door.

"Come in!" he bellowed, the loudness of his own voice sending a few agonizing pulses through his head. The front door opened and closed and Jack glanced over his shoulder to see Cliff.

"Hey, man," Cliff called to Jack as he reached down to pet Apollo, who had quickly abandoned his master at the potential of the farmhand's attention.

"Hey, Cliff," Jack grunted back as he continued to struggle with the screwdriver and floorboard.

"What're you doing?" Cliff had appeared behind Jack and was staring down critically at his best friend as if he had lost his mind.

"I think there's something under this floorboard," he reasoned simply, not even wanting to turn to see the look on Cliff's face; Jack already knew by the tone of his voice exactly what expression he was wearing.

"I see…" Cliff murmured before ambling over to take a seat in one of the nearby dining chairs.

"It's raining today; you know we don't have field work," Jack finally paused his efforts with the floorboard to rub at his aching head.

"I know. I just came by to make sure you were ok. It's really dark in here. Do you want me to turn on the lights or something?"

"No. My head is killing me," Jack grumbled as he stared miserably through the dimly lit room at his best friend. When was that aspirin going to kick in?

Cliff laughed, "Well, yeah. I'm not surprised after what happened last night."

Groaning, Jack dropped the screwdriver on the floor. "I don't even _remember_ most of last night. What happened?"

A wry smirk played across the vagabond's lips as he raised one thick brow. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Jack struggled with this for a long moment. "Taking shots with Gray while you and Ann were dancing."

Cliff laughed again, which only made Jack uneasy.

"Let see… After that, we drank some more. Then around three in the morning, I went outside with you because you were going to head home." Cliff paused.

Sighing, Jack lifted an eyebrow, "_And then?_"

"Well, then you puked."

Groaning miserably, Jack buried his face in his palms. "I _puked_?"

"Yeah, but it's ok because you made it to the bushes," Cliff chuckled, seeming to find the whole ordeal much more amusing than Jack did.

"And then what?" He was almost too afraid to ask, his words muffled by his hands.

"Well… Then Kai came out and saw us…"

"_And_?" Jack pulled his face from his palms to give his friend an annoyed look.

"And he bitched at you for dancing and flirting with Karen…"

"_Then_?"

Cliff hesitated momentarily. "Then you told him to go fuck himself, so he punched you in the face."

"Oh jeez…" Jack grumbled as he picked the screwdriver back up and resumed trying to pry up the floorboard; he needed something to distract himself from the unfortunate recount of the previous night he had just endured.

"Yeah… Maybe you shouldn't drink so much, you know..." Cliff's voice had gone soft and his tone quite serious.

"What the hell do you mean by that? You drink all the time too!" Jack retorted incredulously with a glare.

Cliff shrugged and stared sheepishly at the floor. "Yeah, I know. We just… We worry about you, I guess."

Jack didn't get the chance to inquire _who_ exactly Cliff was referring to as '_we_' when the floorboard finally surrendered, popping up and out of place.

"Ugh, _finally_!"

Jack reached down to pry the wooden slat up to reveal a hole no more than eight or nine inches deep. Inside the secret compartment was a stack of what appeared to be books. Retrieving them all, Jack set five small journals and two larger photo albums on the floor beside him. He picked up one of the black journals and began thumbing through it; the book was filled from cover to cover with a cursive handwriting that seemed vaguely familiar.

"What the hell…" he murmured under his breath in complete disbelief as he glanced over page after page of writing. Setting the journal down, he picked up another one, flipping through it.

"What are those?" Cliff asked curiously.

"I… I think they're diaries. The dates on these pages are in the late forties and early fifties… I think these are my grandfather's diaries from when he was young." Jack looked up at his friend with wide eyes, shocked at the discovery he had just made. He dropped the journal and picked up one of the larger books. Inside were pages of old black and white photographs.

"Oh my god…" he whispered breathlessly as he strained to make out the faces through the dark of the room.

"Family albums?" Cliff had walked over to kneel beside the farmer.

"I think so." Jack flipped slowly through the pages.

"This is awesome. Maybe you can learn some stuff about your family from these. That was part of the reason why you came here in the first place, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. But I mean, after the last surprise, I don't know how many more I can take…" Jack chuckled uneasily as he closed the cover of the album in his hands. In front of him was the chronicle of years of his grandfather's life, all the stories and wisdom he had never gotten to share with his grandson…

"Hey, Jack?" Cliff spoke in a sheepish voice that Jack would have expected from him months ago, but had grown so uncharacteristic of the young man that it caused the farmer to look at him with concern.

"What's up?"

Cliff sat down on the floor beside him, staring off in a different direction. The silence that settled between them set Jack on edge.

"What's going on, Cliff?" Jack asked again.

"Well… You know Ann and I have been getting close lately…" Cliff still wasn't looking at him.

"Yeah, I know… And?" Jack attempted to keep his tone even, though the growing anxiety was making it difficult. He knew what his best friend was going to say, but he was still dreading it.

"We're kind of… Well, I guess you can say that we're dating now," Cliff's words reduced to a mumble, "and I mean, since the three of us are so close… I kind of want your blessing or whatever…" He glanced up finally to meet Jack's gaze.

Jack sat in silence, his features expressionless. He felt sick with a mixture of frustration, jealousy, and hangover-induced nausea. He had the sudden urge to tell Cliff to go fuck himself – and had he been as drunk as was the night before, he probably would have. A least Cliff had waited until they were sober to break the news.

"Jack?" Cliff stared nervously at his friend.

Jack blinked, as if ripped from a trance. "Yeah, yeah. Of course, man. I'm really happy for you guys." He forced a smile which, along with his words, lacked sincerity.

Cliff grinned with relief. "Great. And I mean, since you and Karen are like, together now…" Cliff gave Jack an inquisitive look, as if asking his statement to be corrected or confirmed.

"Yeah, I guess we are…" Jack said with a chuckle. The thought of Karen seemed to take the edge slightly off his current bitter state.

"That's awesome. Now the four of us can hang out together."

Jack forced another smile, though the proposed idea made him want to break something.

"Yeah, absolutely."

"Great! Well… I was going to go meet her for lunch and I'm already late." Cliff clambered back to his feet before heading towards the door. He hesitated, before turning back around. "Ann's birthday party is in five days. Don't forget, alright?"

"I know. I already got her her present," Jack muttered with growing annoyance that Cliff seemed to chalk up to just his friend's relentless hangover.

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" he called back to the farmer.

"Yup."

He heard the sound of the door open and close again as Cliff slipped out into the rain. Jack sat for a long time on the hardwood floor, stewing in his emotions that ricocheted between blinding rage and utter despair. Ann and Cliff – his two best friends – _together_. Why did it bother him so much? Why did he hate it when Cliff looked at her the way he did? Why did it hurt him so much to see Ann hurting?

"Fuck!" he snapped suddenly to the empty room and climbed to his feet. Grabbing a dark grey jacket off the coat hangers by the door, he pulled it on as he pushed his way outside.

The rain poured down on him, soaking his shaggy auburn locks and causing droplets to roll down his face. He wiped them away from time to time with his sleeve but it was no use. Hands shoved deep in his pockets, he ambled through the empty town; everyone seemed to stay indoors when it rained – even the children. His stomach seemed tied so tightly into intricate knots that not even reason seemed to loosen.

_I should be happy for them. They're great and they deserve each other. Cliff's a good guy and I know he'll take care of Ann. I finally get to be with Karen, who I've wanted since I first got here. She's beautiful and funny and witty and matches me so well. She makes me laugh and she's always been so supportive and friendly and kind. She's got a gorgeous face and a great body. This is what I've been waiting for – this is exactly what I've been waiting for all along…_

Jack lingered outside the newest additions to Mineral Town: three small, empty single-leveled buildings – the third of which remained unfinished – across from the supermarket. Jack considered momentarily going inside the shop to see if Karen was there, but he knew she'd pick up on his sour mood immediately and he didn't know how to explain the cause to her. Instead, he kept walking.

_Cliff is my best friend and I want him to be happy. Ann makes him happier than I've ever seen him before. I'm just confused about Ann. Maybe I'm just not used to caring about people as much as I care about her. Am I mistaking my friendship for more than it is? But I can't be… Her smile and her eyes and the freckles on her nose and way she laughs… She haunts me. I dream about her, and I don't know how to stop. I just want all these feelings to go away. She's my friend, and nothing else. There's nothing I can do now even if I wanted to…_

His shoes met the moist sand as he reached Mineral Beach. Jack looked to the little shop that Kai ran in the summer and a wave of anger surged through him like the water that lapped at the shore. Certainly it wasn't just the anger from the supposed incident the previous night, of which Jack still could not recall. Rather, it was a mixture of his raging jealousy and complete confusion mixed with the resentment – moderate in comparison – that he held for the ex-lover of his current companion. The farmer trudged forward through the sand, heading straight for the door of the lodge. His mind raced and his fists balled tightly in his pockets. Oh, the beating that poor, unsuspecting young man was about to get…

"Jack?"

Jack stopped in his tracks and glanced over his shoulder. At the bottom of the steps stood Aja, wearing a pair of dark skinny jeans and a black coat. Her long black hair was down and dampened by the rain.

"Oh. Hey, Aja." Jack hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether or not to carry out his malicious plan. Finally he decided against it and wandered over to her.

"What're you doing out in the rain?" She offered a wry smile and twitched one strong but perfectly groomed eyebrow.

"I could ask you the same thing," Jack replied rather flatly, though he didn't intend to seem cross.

"I came out for a smoke break, just wanted to walk around, I guess…" She shrugged one shoulder casually before leading him over to one of the blankets that had been spared of the rain thanks to a massive umbrella that was embedded in the sand. They sat down together beneath the umbrella, both staring out at the agitated ocean and the dark grey clouds that soaked the island. Aja pulled a pack of cigarettes from one of the pockets of her jacket. Without question or hesitation, she handed him one before pulling one out for herself and holding it between her coral lips. She lit the end with a lighter before handing it to Jack, who did the same. They sat in silence for a while, just staring and smoking and thinking.

"Is it weird being back?" Jack asked finally, glancing over to look at the profile of her face. She really was beautiful.

"Yeah, it's a little strange," she admitted, "It's nice though, you know – seeing everyone, seeing how much things have changed… and how much they're still the same." She looked over at him with a smile.

"Yeah…" Jack mumbled through the end of his cigarette.

"You sure seem to have stirred shit up here." Her smile had contorted into a mischievous smirk.

Jack's brows furrowed at the accusation, "What do you mean by that?"

She laughed lightly at this before taking a drag on her cigarette. "I mean," she blew the smoke out through pursed lips, "That you've got things all complicated here."

Jack frowned, shaking his head. "I don't know what you're talking about," he insisted.

Aja rolled her eyes, "Alright, alright…" she muttered with a giggle.

Sighing, Jack turned to look back out at the water as he lifted the cigarette to his lips.

"At least tell me what's bothering you."

He glanced back down at Aja and frowned, "Who said anything's bothering me?"

Aja scowled the exact same way Jack had seen her mother, Manna, scowling at Duke many times before. "I'm not stupid. I can tell when something's upsetting someone. Besides, you were wandering out in the rain. Who _does_ that?"

Jack sighed again and went quiet for some time. From the corner of his vision, he could see Aja watching him through her dark eyes.

"Alright, fine. You really wanna know?" he said finally.

"If I didn't, I wouldn't have asked." She was cheeky and sarcastic.

"Fine." Jack paused again as he took a final drag on the pathetic remains of his cigarette before stubbing it out in the sand. Immediately she had produced another and held it in offering, to which Jack obliged.

"Well, there's a girl that I've liked and wanted since I first got here," he started, staring down at the blanket beneath them, "and things are just starting to go really well. She's really wonderful and beautiful and I love just being around her–"

"You're talking about Karen, aren't you?"

Jack glanced over at Aja incredulously. "Well, yes… Anyway, I really like her, _a lot_. But-"

"There's always a 'but', isn't there?"

"I think I'm in love with someone else." Knowing the context, the words felt weird in his mouth; Jack had never used the word 'love' in relation to his feelings for Ann – not even in his own head. "But she's with my best friend now and he's totally in love with her too. I just feel like I'm in love with the wrong person."

Aja laughed at this, shaking her head, "There's no such thing as being in love with the _wrong person_! The context can be wrong and messed up and way too complicated, but it's not possible to be in love with the _wrong person_."

Jack knew that she was thinking of Harris in that moment.

"Do you think your feelings for Ann will change?"

Jack's jaw dropped. "How did you kn–"

Aja laughed as she lit another cigarette. "Oh, come on, Jack. I may have been gone for a couple years, but I _know_ my friends. I see the way Karen and Ann look at you, and I see the way you look at them."

He hung his head, "So… What do I _do_?"

"Well, it's all pretty fucked," she shrugged nonchalantly and stared at him.

"That doesn't really help me, you know."

"I know. But what am I supposed to tell you to do? If you go after her, you're going to destroy Cliff. If you don't, you're going to destroy yourself."

Jack pondered this for some time. "I know…" he admitted in a mumble.

"Do you want to be with Karen?"

"I _do_," he insisted a bit too eagerly.

Aja giggled, "Then focus on her. You obviously care about her and she cares about you. Your intentions seem good, so just try not to fuck it all up."

_Try not to fuck it up_; Jack wished he had a dollar for every time he had been told that in his life.

"Yeah…" he sighed softly and stared back down at the blanket.

Her advice had been the same as Doug's, though Aja was much more aware of the situation.

"Thanks for the cigarettes, Aja, but I should go."

"Oh?"

"Yeah.." Jack stood from the blanket, "I've got animals to feed and an important letter to write."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> This is an important set-up chapter and very dialogue-heavy, but I hope it wasn't boring. The next one is going to be fun to write and I've been looking forward to it forever, so hopefully I'll be able to get it posted fairly soon. Please R&R! :)


	14. Chapter 13: Mother's Hill

**WARNING: This chapter contains a lime. That is to say, this chapter contains a scene of a sexual nature but is not overly graphic or explicit. Proceed with caution!**

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><p><strong>Chapter Thirteen<br>Mother's Hill**

"You're all set."

There was the clinking of small metal tools and Jack turned to look down at his hand. The stitches that had been hiding beneath the gauze and wraps for two weeks had finally been removed, leaving trails of bloated pink scars running jagged down the back of his hand. Rows of tiny holes from where the synthetic thread had just been dotted up the sides of two of the thickest lines; it was a nauseating sight.

"Thanks, Trent, I appreciate it. But would you mind putting some new wraps on? This looks pretty awful."

Doctor Trent let out a deep, amused chuckle. He was such a serious man, though he didn't seem like he could be a day older than twenty-nine. It wasn't often that Jack saw him in the bar at night, or even outside of the clinic. Once or twice he had spotted the doctor in the library, nose buried deep in a thick book in the back corner where the medical section was located. Of course Jack could appreciate the man's dedication and reserve seeing as he was, after all, the town's one and _only_ doctor. Even when he wasn't technically working, he was presumably still on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It was a good thing then that the town seemed to be relatively healthy – Jeff, Karen's father, was the only person Jack had noticed making frequent trips in and out of the clinic. 'A hypochondriac', the blonde had called him with the most adorable scrunch of her nose. Hypochondriac or not, Jack couldn't really blame the poor man for a desire to seek refuge from the supermarket he ran; since coming to Mineral Town, the young farmer had witnessed Jeff being berated by both wife and his daughter, along with a slew of other villagers who strolled into the store, taking what they wished and waltzing right back out with the flick of the wrist and the drop of the word 'tab'. Her father's general demeanor was a topic of conversation that Karen had ranted about over many a glass of brandy or a couple cocktails deep at the Inn.

With a fresh cotton wrap around his hand to conceal its unsightly state, Jack thanked Trent once more before stepping out of the office and into the main waiting room. Elli was seated behind the front desk, gaze focused intently on a stack of forums that she was filling out and making notes on. Jeff had appeared sometime while Jack was having his stitches removed, as he was now seated in one of the revoltingly orange cushioned benches with his head hung and a miserable expression on his face. Ever since the shift in dynamic between Jack and Karen – _whatever_ it was in technicality – there had been no indication that Karen had confessed anything of the matter to her parents. Sasha, her mother, was just as pleasantly cheerful as always whenever Jack stopped by the supermarket, either to see Karen or to buy food or seeds for the farm. Even if Karen had told her parents, Jeff wasn't exactly the kind of man to huff and puff and spew silly little threats about what would happen to him if he was to break his daughter's heart or get her pregnant. They would have fallen on deaf ears, regardless.

"You're looking busy as ever," Jack smirked as he leaned against the front desk. Elli glanced up with her wide, doe-like brown eyes and smiled that sweet Elli smile of hers.

"Just doing paperwork," she set the pen she had been holding down, seeming to welcome this distraction from her mundane but oh-so important clinic duties, "How did it go in there? Is everything healing nicely?"

"Oh, you know," Jack lifted his freshly wrapped hand, "It looks pretty gruesome still, but Doctor Trent said everything's coming along just fine. It's going to scar pretty badly though, I can tell."

"Ah," Elli brushed a few rebellious strands of her bangs from her round cheeks, "It's to be expected with cuts of that nature. But they do say girls find scars sexy, don't they?" She giggled at this like a child who's said something naughty.

There was air about Elli that was so pure; Jack wondered what she must have been like with Gray when they were alone. Had they slept together? Jack wouldn't be surprised to hear if they hadn't. Or perhaps, rather, she was some sort of secret nymphomaniac behind closed doors. The good girl front, the tightly structured life, the endless piles of responsibility and expectation… There had to be some way she unwound at the end of the day.

"I assume you'll be at Ann's birthday party on Saturday night, correct?"

Elli's soft voice pulled him from his perverted mental tangent.

"Yeah, of course," Jack smiled uneasily and glanced over to Jeff who was still seated on the other side of the waiting room, staring at a large potted plant beside him so intently that one might think it had begun whispering to him.

"How many people do you think are going to be there?" he asked in a rather hushed voice. Elli glanced over to Jeff before looking back to Jack, understanding his sudden urge to whisper.

"I'm not sure," she said quietly, leaning a bit closer to the farmer, "I supposed it'll just be the younger crowd – the usual group of girls and boys. And Aja too, now that she's back."

"What about grumpy old stick-in-the-mud?" Jack gestured his head in the direction of Trent's office and smiled playfully.

Elli lifted a hand to stifle her giggles. "He's coming. It's taken me a week of pleading, but he agreed to accompany me. I don't know if he'll want to stay the whole night though. We'll see, I suppose."

"How have you and Gray been… You know, since the break up?" Jack's smile faltered awkwardly with the abrupt shift to a more serious topic.

Elli's curled lips, however, did not waver.

"Good. Everything's been good. It's not too awkward and it was fairly mutual, so it's been alright, all things considered."

"That's great," Jack said sincerely before hesitating. "Elli, I found some person things that belonged to my grandfather… A few diaries of his and some old photos. I haven't gone through them properly yet, but I'd like to show them to your grandmother after I do."

Elli's gaze softened. "Jack, I'm sure she'd absolutely love that."

The small silver bell that hung over the clinic's front door chimed a whimsical little ring and Jack and Elli both turned to see Zack pushing his way in with a large box in his hands. Every bulging muscle in his upper body seemed flexed with the strain of his delivery, a roadmap of veins appearing across his tanned skin.

"Elli, I have the supplies Trent ordered last week," he huffed as he set the box down beside the front desk. Beads of sweat had accumulated around his brow, likely exacerbated by the heat of the summer sun outside.

"Oh, thank you so much, Zack," Elli chimed gratefully.

"Hey, man," Jack smiled to the shipper, who nodded in return with a wide, goofy grin. Zack then turned and gestured in the direction of two wooden boxes that were stacked by the clinic's front door.

"I could use some help getting those out to the docks. I'll repay you in beer," Zack offered with a mischievous smile.

Jack laughed softly as he considered this. "Alright, fine. It's not like I've got anything better to do." This was, in fact, a lie considering the amount of labor he had left waiting for him at the farm for the day in order to take his little detour to the clinic. It didn't matter though, as Jack didn't want to turn down the opportunity to aid his friend as well as indulge in a beer before it was even noon.

Zack lead the farmer over to the two boxes beside the door and picked one up. Jack followed suit and grabbed the remaining box, which was moderately heavy.

"Bye, Elli," he called to the nurse who smiled and waved, "Bye, Jeff," he added with a pointed nod in the direction of Karen's father, who met his gaze for no more than a few seconds.

Outside, the sun licked harshly at Jack's skin; since coming to Mineral Town he had become tanner than he had ever been – which was still only moderately tan – and in recent days with his work in the fields, his cheeks and the gentle upward curve of the bridge of his nose had begun to turn a bashful shade of pink. He lingered outside the clinic door, taking in the sight of the three buildings which marked the beginning of a modest attempt at a town expansion. All three still appeared pointedly vacant.

"When do you think someone's actually going to move into one of those places?" Jack asked Zack as he began ambling several feet behind the muscular man, trying to be mindful of any rocks along the old cobblestone road that might cause him to trip.

"'Dunno," Zack called back as he lead the farmer in the direction of the dock, "I think Mayor Thomas put out an ad in some paper though. But I mean, who'd be stupid enough to want to just up 'n leave their home and move to a remote little town like this?" Zack turned his head around to shoot Jack a playful, amused smirk.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Very funny."

The boxes were stacked at the base of the dock and Zack motioned Jack inside his modest home. Jack had never been inside the shipper's house before. It was small with old wood floorboards and wood-paneled walls. A shabby looking cot on an old metal bed frame in the corner of the room seemed to serve as his bedroom; his kitchen – or rather his excuse for one – was located on the opposite corner of the room and consisted merely of a small refrigerator, a sink, and a limited amount of counter space which was taken up primarily by a large microwave. In the center of the room was an old wooden dining table which, oddly enough, had a glass vase harboring a single daffodil.

"It's shabby, but it's home," Zack offered with a smile before Jack could even react.

The man walked over to the refrigerator and Jack could hear the familiar clinking of glass bottles. The farmer peered absentmindedly around the room, pausing to look over a few photographs that were framed on the wall.

"Here."

Jack glanced back to spot the beer bottle that Zack was holding out to him.

"Thanks." He took it gratefully, the bottle ice-cold in his hand. After a sip, the farmer turned back to the photographs. His brows laced together in confusion and he gestured to one.

"Zack… Why is there a picture of Popuri's mom on your wall?"

There was indeed a black and white photo of Lillia, looking easily fifteen years younger and sitting on the beach in a modest one-piece bathing suit. She was smiling behind an oversized pair of sunglasses.

"Oh…" Zack muttered awkwardly, walking over to stand beside Jack and stare at the photograph in question. "It's… kind of a long story," He settled on before shrugging nonchalantly and turning to wander away. Jack frowned to himself as his attention remained glued to the picture.

It was that moment – staring at the delighted, carefree face of a mother of two and a wife to an absent husband, encapsulated and plastered on another man's wall – Jack began to realize that perhaps his life was not some kind of anomaly; but rather, life was just as complicated for everyone else as it was proving to be for him.

* * *

><p>The velvet summer night of Ann's nineteenth birthday party arrived after days of labor and anticipation. The inky black sky was cloudless, dotted with millions of tiny stars, and the air was breezeless and warm. Jack hiked up the steep incline towards the base of Mother's Hill, a black backpack slung over one of his shoulders and his radio tucked beneath his other arm. It was on the flat, grassy plain between the base and the peak of the towering hill that the young men and women planned to camp and laugh and drink and talk and dance and swim in the large pond where the water pooled at the base. It was a night that Jack had been looking forward to for weeks, though his excitement was sporadically extinguished by the thought of having to be around Cliff and Ann when they were together, only to be ignited again at the thought of getting to be around Ann at all with, hopefully, minimal amounts of awkwardness. Things had never been the same since his two best friends had started dating, and those drunken nights the three of them shared at the beginning of summer when the farmhouse filled with laughter and music had begun to feel like distant memories that he clung to with fruitless desperation.<p>

Voices in the distance reached him as he trudged on, adjusting the backpack on his shoulder. It was the distant glow of a large, crackling fire in the center of the grassy plain that came into sight first. Around it, the light danced across and illuminated the faces of the people who sat around it: Cliff, Ann, Karen, Gray, Aja, Popuri, Kai, Elli, Trent, and even Mary. Littered around them were bottles of wine, most unopened but several empty.

"Hi, Jack, I was wondering where you were," Karen called as the farmer approached, drawing the attention of the group to him and away from the story they had all just been laughing over.

"What happened, you get caught up looking at girlie magazines?" Gray asked with smirk, already appearing somewhat intoxicated.

"Oh, shut up," Jack shot back, though he couldn't help the smile that tugged at one corner of his mouth. He set his bag down in the plush grass as he sat down between Karen and Gray.

"Where'd all this wine come from?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Aja nicked them all from the winery," Cliff answered with an impressed smirk.

Aja grinned and looked up to the sky with feigned angelic innocence. "What can I say? They named the place after me, so I should get all the free wine I want, right?"

The group laughed.

"Where's Rick?" Jack asked as he glanced over to Karen, who had a half-empty bottle of wine pinched between her milky thighs.

Karen opened her mouth to answer, but didn't seem to know how to say it; she glanced across the fire pit at Kai. Jack traced her nervous gaze, looking to the dark-skinned traveler who smirked.

"He didn't want to come because I'm here," Kai announced with a touch of pride.

"That's not true," Popuri protested in her child-like voice.

"It totally is," Karen rolled her eyes, but was smiling. Jack didn't know how she could stand to be so close to Kai and Popuri after what had happened.

"Jack, did you bring your radio?" Ann was staring eagerly across the fire at him.

"Oh, yeah, of course," he mumbled as he twisted around to grab the portable radio from behind him.

Handing it off to Karen, he watched as it was passed all the way over to Ann, who squeaked with delight as it was placed into her hands. She switched it on and turned the dial, adjusting it meticulously until she found the precise spot where the static was the least invasive. It was then set aside, casting an ambiance to the conversation that they all settled into.

The dynamic of them all together at once was peculiar and fascinating. Kai was not seated beside Popuri, but rather unusually close to Mary, who remained silent throughout most of the night but smiled and giggled along with the group and repeatedly turned away Kai's numerous offers of sips from his open wine bottle. Oddly enough, there was no animosity hanging thick in the air between Jack and Kai – there were no threatening glances or bitter glares or manipulative smirks. Elli sat, unsurprisingly, with Trent. The doctor's face seemed to have cracked into a permanent grin and he eventually opened a bottle of wine for himself. He passed it to Elli from time to time, who took it in an adorably awkward manner, crinkled her nose, and giggled every time she took a sip. Popuri sat between Trent and Aja, looking as content as ever. Aja was next to Gray, both of whom seemed to be becoming especially drunk exceptionally fast. On the other side of Karen were Cliff and Ann, who sat together with their knees touching and their faces notably close whenever they turned to look at each other – which was often. Jack sat beside Karen, who was dressed in a short plum-colored frock that dipped so low on her chest that the young man was finding it particularly difficult to keep his eyes off of the perfectly framed mounds. This didn't go unnoticed by the blonde, who'd catch his eye, giggle and nudge him with her elbow. As the night went on and the alcohol soaked in, their fingers crept between the soft blades of grass, inching closer and closer – sometimes pulling back completely before resuming their journey – until their fingers met in the middle and laced intricately together, hidden from immediate notice by the length of the unkempt quilt of grass beneath them.

They told stories and jokes and reminisced over old memories. At one point Gray, Cliff, and Kai all engaged in a drinking contest which erupted in cheers and laughs. The alcohol distorted the scene; it made them silly, and foolish, and feel like they could do anything. There was no tension nor bitterness nor awkwardness between anyone in that moment. Even those who kept relatively sober – Mary and Elli – seemed intoxicated by the atmosphere, laughing freely.

Small lanterns were lit eventually by Gray who, even in his state, didn't seem fazed by the handling of fire. Without even a thought, Jack would find his hand on Karen – on her thigh, on her knee, against the small of her back, on the nape of her neck and entwined in her long blonde hair. She laughed and giggled along with everyone else but stared up at him like he was the only one she really saw, like he was the only one who existed. Ann would catch his gaze in fleeting, inconsistent intervals, only to smile at him the same way she smiled at everyone that night.

When Cliff and Gray had wandered off into the silhouette of towering trees around them with the intent of collecting more firewood ("Why-" _hic_ "exactly did we go out here, again?" Cliff would ask Gray for the tenth time), Jack took the opportunity to give Ann her birthday present. He fumbled through his backpack, digging around the blankets he had stuffed tightly inside, before producing a package wrapped in tan newsprint.

"I'll be right back," he whispered into Karen's ear, his words nearly drowned out by the music and the sound of Kai's voice as he recounted a particularly hilarious event that had occurred in a place called Forget-Me-Not Valley.

Jack stood, momentarily wobbly, and walked over to Ann. He touched her shoulder gently and nodded his head off in the direction of the base of Mother's Hill. She obliged and got up, brushing the grass off the back of her short-shorts before scooping up one of the ignited lanterns and following the young man to the trail. Falling into place beside him, they walked in silence across the bridge and listened to the voices behind them reducing to an incoherent chatter.

He stopped at the other side of the bridge, turning to face the young woman.

"I wanted to give you your present," he announced with an awkward smile as he offered the rectangular gift.

Ann stared down at it, batting her long lashes at the sight which was barely illuminated by the flickering light of the lantern she held up.

"Jack, you didn't have to get me anything…" she murmured softly, contemplating the package.

"I wanted to," he said.

She looked up at him, her rosy lips parted and glistening in a way that drove him mad.

"Open it," Jack insisted a bit too forcefully, wanting her to turn away before he did something stupid.

"Alright, alright!" Ann giggled as she passed the lantern off to him and took the gift in her hands.

She unwrapped it halfway before stopping suddenly, her eyes going wide at the realization of what it was. His stomach knotted in anticipation.

"Jack…" she murmured breathlessly.

In her hands was a large, dense novel. Her fingertips grazed the title, of which was printed in bold, white letters that screamed in all capitals.

"How… How did you remember?" she looked up at him in disbelief, "I must have mentioned this book once… _months_ ago."

Jack chuckled and shrugged one shoulder, "It _was_ months ago. But I remembered you telling me about how you read about it in a magazine and wanted it, but the library here didn't have it and doesn't get new books in. So… I thought it'd make a good present."

"I can't believe you remembered…" she uttered softly, pressing the book to her chest. "I'm not used to people putting so much thought into their gifts. This is really sweet of you, Jack."

He only laughed softly and shook his head, staring off into the distance at the sliver of pond he could make out just down the hill, obscured by the thicket of bamboo.

"Thank you for coming," Ann said quietly after a moment.

Jack turned to look down at her, brows furrowed. "Of course, Ann. You know I wouldn't miss it."

They went silent. She was smiling up at him, the freckles on her cheeks barely visible through the light of the lantern and begging to be kissed.

"Ann," he said suddenly, drawing in a sharp breath. "I… I need to tell you something."

The smile on her face faltered before fading completely. She stared up at him, searching his face. The words bubbled behind his lips and burned on his tongue. _I love you_. _I love you. I love you._

"No, Jack," Ann said suddenly, her focus dropping to his chest as she took a step closer to him; he could feel the warmth of her shaky breath through the thin white fabric of his t-shirt. Her face distorted in a threat to cry.

"You won't do this to me, Jack Harper. You won't and I won't let you." Her words almost caught but there was forcefulness in her voice. She looked back up at him with a stern, determined stare that cut holes in him.

The words had never even left his mouth. Rather, they had retreated, curdling into a lump in his throat that he feared might choke him to death.

"Ann…" he whispered desperately. His fingers – calloused from labor – found her soft, round cheek and he noticed the wetness of a tear he had failed to see in the light of the lantern.

"Hey!"

They broke apart instantly at the bellowing voice of Gray who, followed by everyone else in the group, was tromping down the trail towards them. Ann composed herself again and Jack attempted to wipe the misery from his face as they all came into view, some holding lanterns and others holding bottles of wine.

"We're going to go swim!" Popuri giggled excitedly as she half-skipped beside Gray.

"Great!" Ann cried out enthusiastically. She turned to glance up at Jack one last time before linking arms with Aja as she strolled by.

Karen, who was at the back of the group, stopped when she reached the farmer as everyone else walked on. In her hands were two full bottles of wine.

"Shall we?" she giggled up at him and the smile on her face seemed to ease his upset.

"I didn't bring my swim trunks," he admitted with a chuckle.

Karen only laughed and rolled her eyes as if he was obviously missing an obvious point.

"Swim in those cute little boxer-briefs you wear," she purred seductively as she stepped closer to him.

He leaned down and kissed her deeply.

"How do you know what kind of underwear I wear?" he retorted with a mischievous smirk when they finally broke apart.

Karen giggled and shook her head as she started down the hill.

"Because your jeans always sag a little and I can see them._ Duh_."

Jack laughed and placed his arms around her shoulder as they strolled past discarded shirts and jeans and socks and dresses that littered the path.

The lanterns lined the edge of the glassy pond. Paired with the reflection of the full moon on the surface of the water and the surrounding trees that encased them, the area was surprisingly well lit. The radio had been set down and turned up noticeably. With the exception of Elli, Trent, and Mary, the group had stripped down completely to their undergarments. Trent sat up on the rocky ledge that overlooked the water; he was whispering something into Elli's ear and snaking his arm around her waist as she giggled. Kai, who wasn't even _in_ the water but was nude save for his boxers, was sitting beside Mary in the grass as she clearly tried to focus only on his face. Cliff, Ann, Popuri, Aja, and Gray were all splashing in the water and laughing over the music.

Karen pulled her dress off without hesitation in an oddly familiar scene; she was wearing a lacey pair of black panties and a matching bra. Jack pulled his shirt off and tossed it aside as he watched Karen walk over to the edge of the pond and sit down, submerging her legs in the water. With his pants, shoes, and socks discarded, Jack seated himself beside her, setting the lantern down on his other side. She was staring off dreamily at the water.

"Funny how this is so much like that night when you first moved here, isn't it?" Her lips were curled into a smile.

"Yeah," he chuckled and took one of the wine bottles as she held it out to him. It had already been uncorked by the fire and had seemed to have lost some of its contents in the journey down the hill. He brought it to his lips and took in a large mouthful.

"I would have never thought…" Karen trailed off before bringing her own bottle to her mouth.

"Never thought what?" Jack glanced over to her curiously.

She chuckled and shrugged one bare shoulder. "I... never would have thought how much things would change when you came here." She looked up at him thoughtfully.

"For the better, I hope."

They laughed. Their gazes drifted off to the people in the water; Gray was standing on the stone edge high above the other side of the large pond, near Elli and Trent who were watching him with a mix of awe and amusement. With a symphony of cheers echoing off the rocks and trees that encased them, Gray jumped from the ledge and landed in the water with a large splash. He surfaced moments later, his dirty blonde locks sticking to his grinning face. Jack's focus turned to Kai, who seemed to be trying to coax Mary to go for a swim.

"Doesn't it bother you? Seeing them, I mean?" Jack pondered aloud, the alcohol dissolving his impulse control.

"Hm?"

He turned to look at Karen's curious expression.

"Seeing Kai here? And seeing Popuri, too?"

Karen contemplated his question before finally shrugging.

"A little, yeah," she admitted, "But Kai is Kai, and I could never stay mad at Poppy. I know she didn't do it to _hurt_ me and I know how persuasive Kai can be."

Jack glanced back over to the charming dark-skinned young man who was still working his signature pompous smile at the quiet librarian who seemed coy but unyielding.

"Does it bother you?" Karen asked in a cautious voice.

Frowning, Jack turned to look at her again. "Huh?"

The girl nodded in the direction of Cliff and Ann, who were chasing each other through the water. Jack caught the sight and pursed his lips.

"No," he lied.

Karen was smiling when he turned back to her. He leaned over without thought and kissed her roughly. She reciprocated, winding her fingers through his shaggy hair. Their lips parted suddenly as she pulled away to look up at him.

"Will you follow me?" she asked quietly, her voice husky with need.

"Yeah," he replied in instant recognition.

Karen clambered to her feet, snatching up her dress and pulling it over her head as she started off in the direction of the hot springs without so much as a glance over her shoulder. Jack lingered behind, fumbling to pull his jeans back on. He glanced around at the faces of everyone who was there before his sight settled on Ann. She was half submerged in the water, several yards away – a beautiful silhouette, statued and unmoving. She was looking at him, he knew.

Ripping himself away, Jack turned and ambled drunkenly down the hill to find Karen.

She was waiting for him at the top of the steps leading up to the Goddess Pond and the hot springs. The lamps that illuminated the springs at night brightened the area enough to see the features of her face and the gentle crashing of the waterfall drowned out the music and the voices from up the hill.

Her hands wrapped around his neck instantly and he pulled her closer. He walked carefully forward as she walked backwards against him, their lips colliding and his hands snaking up her dress. The frock was tossed aside when their mouths parted and Karen pulled the young man behind the wooden slat walls that encased the hot springs. Neither of them spoke as his hands unhooked her bra and her fingers fumbled with the button on his jeans. All he could think in his drunken state was how glad he was that he always kept a rubber in his wallet.

He laid her in the grass and hovered over her, taking in the sight of her naked body, her heavy-lidded gaze staring up at him, and her plum-stained lips that tasted of wine. He indulged in the softness of her skin, reading her goose bumps like braille. His undeserving fingers reached their destination and her breathing turned sharp before her head lolled to one side and she relaxed beneath him.

Jack was selfish and greedy; he _consumed_ her – right there in the grass, hidden behind the springs.

* * *

><p>In the morning he awoke in the grassy plain between the base and the peak of Mother's Hill. He was curled beneath several blankets he had brought and was being assaulted by the morning sun. Most of the people scattered about the field were still asleep beneath their own blankets; Karen appeared deep in the middle of a dream a few feet away from him. After a short exchange with the wide-awake-and-still-drinking-Aja, Jack learned that Ann had left several hours prior with Cliff after feeling quite ill with a hangover.<p>

Without another word to anyone, he shoved the blankets into his bag and stumbled down the trail, collecting his socks, shoes, and shirt during the descent. He didn't think of what had happened the night before; he pushed the thought away stubbornly to be reflected upon later, when he could think a bit more clearly and process the potential consequences of what he had done.

Jack stumbled back onto his farm – barefoot and shirtless with dark rings around his tired eyes – to be met with the sight of a young woman with pale skin, long blonde hair, a pair of oversized aviators, and a navy blue dress. Beside her was a bright red suitcase.

"If you're looking for the Inn, it's way up the road there," Jack said rather rudely, gesturing in the vague direction of the Inn as he walked over to his front door and dug through his back pocket for his keys. All he wanted to do was crawl in bed and go back to sleep and the stranger in front of him was keeping him from doing so.

"Jack?" The girl smiled sweetly as she pulled the large sunglasses from her face.

Jack frowned, "Wha? Do I know you?"

She let out an airy laugh.

"Sort of. I'm Claire."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Loooong chapter, but I hope it was enjoyable. And thank you so much for the reviews on the last chapter, Altrox and Lihkan! And I promise there's a reason behind all these drinking scenes in this story ;)


	15. Chapter 14: Claire

**Chapter Fourteen**  
><strong>Claire<strong>

The name and the sound of her voice reverberated in his skull.

"C-Claire?" He echoed, ricocheting between shock and disbelief. The rusted gears in his mind were moving faster than his lips could keep up. "What… w-what are you doing here?"

The girl laughed a soft, school-girl chuckle as she shrugged her bare shoulders. Her skin was clear and honey-brown from the summer sun and her long, brilliant blonde hair was perfectly straight and fell easily to the small of her back. In contrast to Jack's thick, shaggy auburn hair and lighter, slower-to-tan complexion – complete with a peppering of light sun-freckles across his nose and cheeks – they didn't immediately look related. The dilution of their genes hadn't wiped away their similarities completely though. She had the same wide, grayish-blue eyes as he did, and when she smiled, her mouth formed in just the same way his did. She was thin but healthy and stood no higher than Jack's collarbones. Claire was pretty, and the kind of girl he was glad he was meeting on the pretense of being family rather than by chance in the city and finding out the technicalities at a later and considerably more unfortunate date.

"I got your letter, about the photographs and the journals you found. I was going to write back, but then I saw this…" She trailed off, moving towards her red suitcase.

Leaning down, she accosted a front pocket before pulling out a folded piece of paper. Once unfolded, she held it up for Jack to take, who obliged and glanced over the offering. Between his fingers was an advertisement that had been clipped out of a newspaper. _MINERAL TOWN_ boasted across the top in a flashy bold font. Beneath a black and white photograph of one of the town's streets that made it look especially charming, there was a blurb of text about the newest building additions and vacancies on the island. The entire ad reeked of exaggeration and manipulation; perhaps that was what the Mayor thought it would take to get a few new businesses in the town.

"Claire…" Jack stared down incredulously at his cousin, "Are you_ moving_ here?"

"Huh?" Claire's face scrunched up with such confusion that Jack wondered if he had miraculously just spoken another language. After a moment, her eyes went suddenly wide with understanding before she let out another laugh.

"No, no, _god no_! I just thought it was such a funny coincidence that I was planning to write to you to set up coming to visit, and then I saw the ad," she gestured toward the piece of paper Jack was still holding, "It just seemed like, you know… _fate,_ or whatever."

The smile quickly faded from her bright pink lips as she observed the look that was still plastered across her cousin's face.

"You don't mind, do you? I know I should have asked you first before just dropping in… But I spoke to the Mayor – Thomas, I think his name was? – and he said there's an inn here I can stay at for as long as I want. I was only planning on being here a few weeks or so… you know, just to see what Grandpa's life was like, since I never got to meet him. It_ is_ alright, isn't it?" She was staring up at him so nervously that Jack thought she might actually believe that he'd just turn her away and send her right back to the city.

"Of course it's alright," he chuckled, folding the ad back up and handing it to her.

Claire's face broke into a wide grin, "Great."

"I'll show you where the Inn is, but I might as well show you the house and around the farm first."

Jack walked over to Claire's suitcase and picked it up before motioning for her to follow and went to unlock the door, all the while trying not to drop the bundle of his shirt and shoes that was tucked under one arm.

"I hope you weren't waiting too long," he called back as he pushed his way into the farmhouse, Apollo waiting obediently on the other side of the door.

"I got here about an hour or so ago," Claire admitted, following him inside and stooping to pet the massive dog who returned the gesture with a lick to her face. "But I was poking around your stable and petting your horse for a while."

She gazed around the main room of the house, taking the sight in though it wasn't much. A fan was placed in the corner of the room by the old television, whirring lazily and doing little more than just mildly circulating the hot, stagnant summer air. Jack set the suitcase down and let his shirt and shoes fall to a heap by the door before going to push back the curtains to let the sun pour in.

"Not to be rude or anything, but where were you? And why are you shirtless and barefoot?" Claire asked with an amused smirk.

Jack glanced over at her and chuckled, "It was one of my best friend's birthday parties last night. We went camping up by this place called 'Mother's Hill'."

He walked over to the kitchen and yanked open the door to the old refrigerator, calling over to her, "Do you want a beer or something?"

Claire laughed and shook her head as she walked over to his massive bookshelf to glance over the selections, "It's like, nine in the morning. You do know that, right?"

Jack pulled out one beer bottle, which was sweating cool beads of moisture on the glass, and shrugged. He had always drank a lot, but since moving from the city he seemed to have forgotten the arbitrary rules that marked the thin line between the title of appropriate 'drinker' and the shamed 'alcoholic'. The reminder didn't stop him, however, as he picked up a bottle opener he had left out and popped off the top, which fell to the countertop with a series of satisfying _clinks_.

"How're you able to just whisk off and come stay here for a few weeks? What about your job in the city?"

Jack leaned against the counter as he sipped his beer and watched the blonde thumb through a thick book she had pulled from the shelf about breeding cattle. She glanced up at him with a smile before returning the book to its proper place.

"I've been working at the same bakery forever, so the staff there is like family to me," she explained before walking over to inspect the kitchen, "They were super understanding and excited for me – my boss was one of the people encouraging me the most to go. I have a roommate at my apartment, so she can take care of the place just fine on her own while I'm gone. I'm sure she's happy to have the place to herself for a while too," Claire added with a giggle.

"I see," Jack chuckled.

"What happened to your hand?" Claire asked suddenly, gesturing to the wraps.

"Oh," Jack mumbled, looking down at his own hand, "I had stitches in. I just got them out a few days ago, but it's pretty gross looking so I've been keeping this thing on." Jack shrugged before announcing, "I should go get changed so I can show you around."

The young farmer set down his drink before walking to his bedroom, slipping in and shutting the door behind him. His reflection in the mirror wasn't as bad as he had expected; the slight circles under his eyes were no more shocking than the state of his obnoxiously unkempt hair. All things considered from the previous night, he actually didn't feel half bad. Changing into a fresh pair of fitted denim jeans and a white t-shirt, he put on a layer of deodorant before emerging from his room. Claire stood with her head titled to one side as she considered the young man in front of her.

"You know, we do kinda look alike," she announced suddenly.

Jack chuckled and shrugged, "You think so?"

"Mhm. What were you like in the city? Did you play any sports?"

Thinking over the question, Jack plucked his beer bottle off the kitchen counter and resumed sipping it.

"Soccer – competitively, for a long time. I did a little bit of tennis for fun too, when I was younger. Besides that, I was never much into sports. What about you?"

"Soccer when I was young, volleyball through high school, and riding throughout my entire life."

Jack laughed at this, "That's great. Maybe you can break Lucifer then."

Claire appeared suddenly confused. "_Lucifer_?"

"Yeah, my horse. His name is Lucifer…" Jack shrugged nonchalantly before polishing off his beer and setting the empty bottle on the counter.

Claire laughed, rolling her eyes. "That's quite a name. And sure, I can see what I can do with him over the next couple weeks, but it'll probably take longer than that…"

Smirking, Jack walked over to her suitcase by the door and picked it up. "That's alright. I'll never ride him anyway," he said as he pushed open the door and stepped outside the house, turning to hold the door open as the blonde followed behind.

"Why not?" She sounded a touch annoyed.

"Because I hate horses," Jack grumbled, closing the front door behind him.

Claire stared up at him with an expression that would have been expected following an announcement that he had just murdered someone.

"_You hate horses_?" she wheezed incredulously.

"Well… not _hate_, per say… I'm more… _afraid_ of them." Jack's voice was no more than a shamed mumble.

Claire suddenly erupted in amused giggles. "I see. Then I promise I will have you bonded to that horse by the time I leave!" She vowed with a girlish, wicked little grin.

Jack rolled his eyes and muttered, "Good luck with that."

Before the tour of the town, Jack took a while to properly show her his farm and exactly how he had set it up. He took her through the rows of crops, some plump and ripe and beginning to be harvested while others remained youthful and quite unidentifiable to the untrained eye. Claire followed around with her bubble-gum pink lips parted in awe and fascination, hanging off every word of her cousin's explanations.

"So, you did all this by _yourself_?" she asked with great adoration.

"Well, no," Jack admitted with a shrug, "This summer I've been employing my best friend here in town, Cliff. He helps me out a lot in the fields."

"Ah, I see," Claire mused before turning her attention abruptly to the barn.

Jack showed her inside to pet and feed his cow, Hemera. Claire cooed and doted over the animal, rubbing her cheek against its shoulder blade and petting it while it ate. Jack watched her with great amusement until she seemed satisfied and abruptly announced that she was ready to see the town.

Red suitcase in tow, Jack led his cousin first to the Inn. Inside, Gotz was seated at a table with Duke and Manna, all enjoying a hearty breakfast and engaging in a light conversation that seemed unsurprisingly dominated by the black haired woman. Manna spotted them instantly and waved them over. Jack gave Claire an uneasy smile and a gesture with his eyebrows that was loaded with warning.

"Hello, Jack. Who is this new face I've never seen before?" Manna asked sweetly as the farmer and his cousin approached.

"I'm Claire Middleton. I'm actually Jack's cousin," the blonde introduced as she smoothed her dark cotton frock with a touch of nervousness.

Gotz and Duke were staring at her with expressions that were neither inviting nor hostile.

"Oh, isn't that wonderful!" Manna gushed from her seat. "It's always nice to meet new people around here. We don't get that very often, you know, what this is being such a small island and all. Oh, you're just such a lovely girl – such a pretty face. You look about my daughter's age too. Have you met my daughter yet? Aja? She just came back recently from four years in the city! Can you believe it? It's so wonderful to have her back, especially this time of year. It's so nice to enjoy summers in Mineral Town."

Claire smiled uneasily as Manna's lips fluttered endlessly. Once she had finally seemed to finish, Claire didn't know how to respond.

Jack came to the rescue: "This is Gotz, our woodcutter and the man who does all the construction here on the island," Jack nodded in the direction of the gruff and grisly looking man who grunted and nodded in greeting, "And this is Duke, Manna's husband. They own the winery near the farm."

Duke, of whom was closest to the young pair, extended a hand to engage Claire in a brief but firm handshake.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said as his lips curled into their usual slick smirk.

"You staying long?" Gotz grunted as he turned his attention to the suitcase in Jack's hands.

"Oh, only a few weeks," Claire replied sweetly.

"We were just about to book her a room before I go show her around town," Jack announced a bit firmly, hoping it was hint enough to rip them from the conversation before Manna's gabbing tentacles latched on and sucked them into the abyss of pointless and arbitrary chatter.

"Well, don't be a stranger now," Duke nodded politely.

"Nice to meet you all," Claire chimed as she turned to follow Jack, who was already making for the front counter.

There was no sight of Doug or Ann, so Jack set down the suitcase and prodded idly at a silver bell in front of the register. Moments later, Doug appeared in the doorway of the open kitchen.

"Jack!" he bellowed happily as he strolled out of the kitchen to his place behind the front counter. "I heard Ann's party went well. Did ya have fun?"

Jack chuckled nervously as flashes of Karen's naked body flicked through his mind.

"Yeah, it was great. Is Ann not working today?"

Doug went suddenly a bit somber, "Ah, no, not today. I'm afraid she hasn't been feelin' too well so she's resting." He seemed to brighten a bit, "But o' course, the day after a girl's birthday party – I wouldn' expect anythin' less than a nasty hangover." Doug let out a deep belly laugh, to which Jack chuckled along uneasily.

"Well, I need to book a room for my cousin, Claire," he said as he gestured to the blonde who was standing beside him.

Doug's attention fell to the girl as if he hadn't even noticed her before that moment.

"Ahh, hello! I didn't know we were going to be having any new guests in," Doug said.

"I'm sorry, that's my fault. I didn't really speak to anyone except the Mayor, very briefly, before I came," Claire apologized with a meek smile.

"That's quite alright," Doug chortled, shaking his head. "We've always got plenty o' rooms! How long will you be stayin' for?"

"I'm not sure," Claire glanced over at Jack before looking back to Doug, "I haven't officially booked a flight back to the city yet. I was planning to be here a few weeks…"

Shrugging, Doug lifted a hand to stroke his reddish beard. "That's just fine. We usually charge twenty bucks a night, but if you're plannin' on stayin' a while, I can cut ya a real good deal. Most of our residents are extended-stay guests who live here, so we always fix 'em up real nice. Why don't I just give you the key to your room an' we'll settle the bill when you're ready to leave, hm?"

Claire's eyes had gone quite wide and a grin was threatening to split her face in two.

"That's so wonderful. Thank you so much..." she trailed off, trying to recall if he had mentioned his name or not.

"Doug," the innkeeper filled in with a chuckle.

"Doug," she parroted with a cheerful smile, "I really appreciate it."

"My pleasure," Doug said as he pulled a key from the drawer and handed it to the blonde.

Attached to the key was a keychain with a black rubber square that read '5'. Claire thanked him profusely as Jack waved goodbye to Doug and led his cousin across the room, up the staircase, and down the hall with the rows of doors. Finding room 5, Claire unlocked the door and stepped in, followed by the farmer who carried her suitcase. The room was immaculate; the bed's bright white sheets and moss-green comforter were perfectly made and not a speck of dust was visible on any surface of furniture.

"Wow…" Claire murmured as she looked around the modest but nice room in which she would be residing for the next few weeks.

Jack chuckled, setting down her suitcase. "Ann, my other best friend here, cleans the rooms. She's Doug's daughter and she works here as a maid and a waitress."

"Is she your girlfriend?" Claire asked a bit bluntly, though she was smiling genuinely.

The question caught Jack off guard.

"Wha? Well, no… I mean… not really. I wouldn't call her that," he fumbled before explaining, "She's my best friend's girlfriend."

Claire raised an eyebrow and laughed, "I see. So then you don't have a girlfriend?"

"I have… something like one, I guess." Jack shrugged uneasily, "My friend, Karen. You'll meet her."

"Great. You lead the way then," Claire gesture toward the door with a smile and followed as Jack turned to leave.

That morning in Mineral Town was proving to be just as lazy and warm as any other summer day. The sun beat down on the old brick streets while bees and butterflies copulated with the brightly colored flowers of blues and pinks that lined the roads. A breeze would blow in from time to time, ruffling Jack's hair and fluttering Claire's navy blue dress as they walked along. Jack took her back across the Town Square and past Yodel Farm where they stopped to watch the herd of cattle graze lazily in the fenced-off fields while May pranced around them in the distance, sometimes stopping to tug at one of their tails or insert a little finger into their ear. He took her past the Poultry Farm where Popuri, wearing a bright yellow sundress, was humming dreamily and scattering feed for the flock of chickens that clucked and pecked at her bare toes.

"I want you to meet my friend Gray," Jack announced as he led her up to front steps to the Blacksmith.

When they slipped inside they were greeted by the sound of bellowing shouts exploding from the back work area, of which was hidden behind a large wall, save for an open doorway.

"You're such a hypocrite!" Gray was yelling, struggling to be heard over the sound of clattering metal tools.

"And you're a young, foolish boy! What use is a lazy apprentice to me?"

Jack recognized the gruff voice of Gray's grandfather, the master blacksmith in Mineral Town.

"_Lazy_?" Gray echoed in a shrill scream. "I work my ass off here and you don't appreciate one goddamn thing I do! This is bullshit!"

"Watch your language, boy!" Saibara barked back.

"_Go to hell_!" Gray bellowed before emerging suddenly from behind the wall. He was dressed in a pair of his khaki work pants, a black shirt, and his usual blue and red cap. The blacksmith's appreciate jumped slightly at the sight of the two bewildered faces staring right at him.

"Morning, Jack," Gray snapped as he walked from behind the counter, pushed his way between the pair of cousins, and stormed out the door.

Jack, not wanting to be spotted by Saibara when the elderly gentleman was in an especially angry state, quickly led Claire back out of the shop.

"Gray!" he called to his friend, who was already making his way up the road.

Gray stopped and turned around, waiting for them to catch up.

"Who's this," Gray grunted bluntly as he stared down at Claire, who was smiling nervously, as if he might leap forward and bite her at any moment.

"This is Claire. She's my cousin. She's going to stay in Mineral Town for a while," Jack explained as the three of them resumed walking.

"Gray," He barked his own name as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his work pants.

"It's nice to meet you, Gray," Claire announced in her sweetest tone, though it didn't seem to take the edge of the young man's mood.

"I was just showing her around and explaining all the villagers to her. Wanna walk with us?" Jack offered.

"Sure. I've got nothing better to do," Gray replied moodily.

Jack stopped outside the winery to tell his cousin more about Duke and Manna and confess about Aja and his own part in her return. Outside Mary's parent's house and the library, Jack went into detail about Basil and his infectious presence in the library's choices in literature. A pair of hushed voices poured out of an open window of the library, just loud enough for the three of them to make out over the droning orchestra of summer cicadas:

"I don't want you going near him!" a woman was saying very matter-of-factly.

"Mom, he's not so bad," a soft, meek voice reasoned; Jack recognized it as Mary's.

"He's charming, sweetie, but I know men like him and I know the kinds of things they want and expect from a girl," the woman, who Jack could only reason was Anna, insisted.

"You don't even know him!" Mary countered in what it seemed she could muster of a defiant tone, though it came out more like a pained squeal.

Jack motioned Gray and Claire from their eavesdropping and led them away from the window.

"They must be talking about Kai," Gray smirked.

"Poor Mary," Jack mused with a chuckle.

With Gray's help, Jack explained who Ellen was and about her grandchildren, Elli and Stu, who all lived together. It was slightly more difficult to explain Mayor Thomas's living situation, which was in his house with his very-much adult police officer son, Harris, and most unusually the town's photographer, Kano. Whatever strange, convoluted affair may or may not have been occurring between the Mayor and the photographer (Harris, they reasoned, had no part in any of it as he had already proven with Aja years ago that he preferred girls, and of the _younger_ variety) was up for speculation. Gray readily tossed out theories, ranging from hilarious to grotesque, which left Jack and Claire laughing and wiping tears from their eyes as they walked.

As they approached the Supermarket, they spotted Karen and Rick sitting on the long bench that was situated between the Supermarket and the Clinic. Elli was standing nearby, sweeping the brick road idly as the three of them chatted. It was Elli who noticed them first, her dark eyes glancing up and her short brown hair tickling against the nape of her neck as a little breeze caressed them all.

"Hello." Elli called out as she paused her sweeping.

"Hey, guys." Jack called back as they approached.

Karen turned to spot the joining three, her gaze flicking between Jack and the unfamiliar blonde beside him.

"Hey," Karen and Rick chirped in unison.

Karen pushed off the bench, going to wrap her arms around the young farmer in a quick hug. The feel of her body pressed against his, though only momentarily, opened up the gates for a flood of memories from the previous night.

"Who's this?" Karen asked with a smile as she turned to look at Claire.

"I'm Claire. I'm Jack's cousin," Claire announced in a way that must have been becoming daunting quite quickly.

Karen's vibrant green eyes went wide.

"_Claire_? I didn't know you were coming!" she exclaimed before turning and smacking Jack on the arm playfully, "Why didn't you tell me she was coming?"

Jack laughed and rubbed at the spot where he had just been struck.

"Because I didn't _know_! She was on the farm this morning!" he insisted.

"Just trying to keep things exciting around here, I guess," Claire giggled.

Karen turned back to Claire, grinning. "You should have come one day sooner. You missed a pretty fun party last night."

Her green gaze locked momentarily with Jack's, who felt all at once as if the already sweltering summer heat had catapulted another twenty degrees.

"Claire, this is Karen. She works at the Supermarket here. And that's Rick, Popuri's older brother," Jack pointed to Rick on the bench, who waved awkwardly, "And this is Elli, our town nurse."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Claire," Elli said.

"If you ever need any chickens, you can come and see me," Rick offered a bit creepily.

Karen shot an annoyed look back at him. "Rick, what use would she ever have for chickens? She lives in the city."

Rick hung his head like a child being punished.

"It's great to meet all of you," Claire giggled.

"Gray and I were just showing her around the town," Jack explained. "We'll see you all around though."

The young farmer gestured an abrupt resume to the tour as a chorus of 'goodbyes' and 'it was nice to meet yous' echoed behind them.

They stopped outside the church to introduce Claire to Pastor Carter and Stu who were, much to Carter's dismay, playing marbles for the hundredth time on the side of the old brick road. Looping down to Town Square again, they were intercepted on their route to the beach by Louis.

The bizarre man was hovering over a large beetle was a thick magnifying glass that appeared almost as thick as his large round glasses. Despite it being a particularly hot summer day, he was dressed in his usual faded green safari jumpsuit, complete with matching hat. His tuffs of gray hair and mustache were as wild as ever. When he spotted them approaching, he abandoned the beetle (of which had started to smoke under the direct beam of sunlight that had been projected onto it through the magnifying glass) and stood up straight.

"Hm, hm? And who is this?" he asked in his characteristically fast-talking voice that often left Jack wondering if he snorted heaps of cocaine in between his seemingly unintentional but frequent insect massacres.

"Uh, Louis, this is Claire... She's my cousin," Jack explained awkwardly and gestured to the girl who appeared to be feeling equally awkward beside him.

"Louis does bug stuff," Gray chimed with an extremely amused smirk.

"I'm a _bee researcher_," Louis corrected indignantly before turning back to Claire. "You will tell me if you spot any unusual bees, hm? Wont you, yes?"

Claire opened her mouth to speak, but Jack quickly interjected, "Louis, we saw a bunch of bees over by the Inn. I didn't notice any unusual ones, but we did see quite a few. It might be worth checking out?" The farmer offered with a forced smile.

"Oh, yes, I see. Thank you, dear boy."

With that, Louis turned and scurried off in the direction of the Inn, leaving the three of them stifling giggles as they went off to the beach. Ice cream at the Seaside Lodge seemed in order and was served up to them by a moody and hung-over looking Kai. His sickly state didn't keep him from eyeing Claire with such a lack of subtlety that Jack wondered if 'subtle' was even a word that had ever made it into Kai's personal life dictionary.

The three of them strolled back towards the farm, eating their rapidly melting ice cream cones and chatting about Claire's two flights over and what her job in the city was like. Jack and Claire parted ways with Gray and promised to meet him at the bar that evening before the two cousins walked back into the farmhouse. Jack collapsed into the large worn-out maroon leather sofa that faced the television.

"I never got to meet Cliff… or Ann," Claire mused as she walked over to join him on the couch which practically swallowed her when she leaned back into it.

"You will, I'm sure. I'm surprised Cliff hasn't been around yet today, but he's probably taking care of Ann," Jack said with a shrug.

"Can I take a look at those albums?"

"The photo albums?" he asked.

Claire nodded.

"Of course, they're over there, on the fourth shelf." Jack pointed to the two thick photo albums on the bookshelf.

Claire rose from the couch, walking over to pull one off the shelf before taking her spot back on the couch beside him.

"Have you looked through them yet?" she asked.

"No," Jack admitted softly with a sigh. "I've been so busy; I haven't had time to really go through any of it."

Claire flipped open the front cover, staring down at the first page of black and white photographs. Jack leaned over to look with her. In the pictures were faces unfamiliar to them – a group of strangers who shared some portion of DNA with the both of them.

"I think this is Grandpa," Jack said as he pointed to the face of a young man who was smiling and kneeling beside a large black dog. He didn't look older than sixteen in the photograph.

"This is so weird…" Claire murmured as she turned to the next two pages.

There were family photographs, photos of what they could only assume were family pets, and photos with friends. Jack would point from time to time when he recognized a place in Mineral Town in the background, or a spot in the very house in which they sat. It wasn't difficult to discern through process of elimination who was Charles, their great-grandfather, and who was Rosalind, their great-grandmother. Many of the photographs were of James when he was young – ranging from about five to twenty-five years old. It was eerie and yet strangely humbling to look at the photos.

"Look, there's my grandmother!" Claire murmured breathlessly, pointing to a photograph of James and Elisabeth, looking about eighteen years old and grinning beside each other in the fields.

When the first album had been consumed and exhausted, Claire closed the back cover before nodding in the direction of the old journals that had been filed onto the bookshelf beside the albums.

"Are you going to read them?" she asked.

Jack considered this before nodding slowly.

"Yeah, I think they could be really interesting… I was going to start with the earliest and just read through them all."

"Can I read them after you?" Claire inquired with smile.

"Of course. I'll pass off the first one to you the second I finish it."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> Another decently long chapter. The next one will be pretty short but is super important to the storyline. By the way, for those who haven't actually played the original BTN: Louis, Kano, and Greg are all Mineral Town characters that appear in Back to Nature but not in Friends of Mineral Town. Also, the town layout in BTN is slightly different, which you may notice from this chapter. :) Please R&R! Thank you Altrox, Rune, and KRoseC1013 for the reviews on my last chapter!

Also, I'm debating starting a Sunshine Islands longfic. Awesome or terrible idea? I have a plot I really like for it, but I'm on the fence about whether or not to go through with a third story, even though I've kept up pretty well with the two I have now.


	16. Chapter 15: 1951

**Chapter Fifteen  
>1951<strong>

A collection of excerpts from the diary of James Weston Harper

_March 31st, 1951. _Today is the day of my seventeenth birthday. Amongst boxes of toffee and my favorite colored taffies, my mother presented this book to me. Black-leather bound, but it still didn't appease Father. _Men shouldn't write in diaries, _he said. Mother tried to set him straight, but he's such a stubborn man.  
>After my special birthday supper, she pulled me aside and asked me to write in my journal, despite my father's words. She told me that documenting my life and my feelings is important – that it might <em>mean<em> something to somebody someday… I think she's lost a few marbles with age. But I do love her, so I will.

_April 3rd, 1951._ Spring has sprung. Everything is beautiful here in Mineral Town: the grass is growing thick and dark, the flowers are starting to bloom, the bees and butterflies are all coming out of winter's hiding.  
>The transition from winter to spring is always a difficult one on the farm. Prepping the field for planting is arduous and father's short temper doesn't help the day slip by so smoothly. My hands are raw and blistered from the handle of the hoe, so much so that it isn't an easy task to hold this pen. Victoria came by in the afternoon with letters and the paper for Mother, but Father wouldn't let her linger long enough to chat. She had a sunhat with a black silk ribbon, slacks, and brown loafers. She's only just fourteen, but a far cry from the little girl I used to run around with on Mother's Hill when we were still just starry-eyed pups. Same smile though... same pretty dimples. I wish her father didn't work so hard to keep her away from me now that she's growing up…<p>

_April 8th, 1951._ A Hereford bull of ours died today – Father's favorite. He had a few extra glasses and whiskey tonight. Not sure if it was in the bovine's honor, or just an especially bad day.

_April 19th, 1951._ Weaseled a day off from farm work out of Father, though he still pitched a fit. It was unusually sunny and warm, so I went to the base of Mother's Hill with Scott, John, Ellen, Victoria, and Judy. John just moved here from a big city on the mainland and he's always telling us stories about back home. He says there's millions of cars and a microwave oven in every home and that cake comes in a box and you just add water. I told him he was a dirty fucking liar, but he's as stubborn as a mule – or maybe even as stubborn as Father – and swears by it.

Sometimes I get jealous of John and all the other people here who came from the city. I don't know if I'll ever get to see it, or even ride in a car. All I get are those black and white photographs from Mother's weekly newspaper. I used to clip them out and keep them hidden in a box, but Father found them last year and threw them out. I_ shouldn't hold on to pipe dreams, _Father said. Sometimes I think I hate him. Sometimes I feel like he just wants me around for free labor. Sometimes I want to run away. I try to love the farm as much as he does, but I don't know if I ever will. It doesn't seem like I have a choice though.

_May 4th, 1951._ Rain today. I went to the market for Mother and stopped by the library to visit Victoria. Her mother is so quiet and her father so stern – I don't know how she turned out to be so lovely. She only works there three days a week and spends the rest of her time studying. She's so smart; she's always talking about going to school in the city when she turns old enough. If she goes, I think I'll miss her.

_May 28th, 1951._ Father got too drunk tonight. He hit my mother. Now she's locked herself up in the washroom and won't come out. I hate him. I fucking hate him. And I hate this farm. I feel like I'm in prison. Sometimes I dream that I'm living in the city, far away from this dingy little town. Then Father wakes me up for work and reality comes crashing back down on me. It's too much to bear.

_June 7th, 1951._ I went fishing with John this morning. John really isn't so awful when you get to know him, I think. He's got a big mouth and he speaks a bit strangely, but he's not all bad. He's eighteen and likes to talk about all the girls he's seen naked, back when he went to an all-boys school that had formals and events every few months with their 'sister' all-girls school. He asked me if I've ever touched a girl under her clothes and I said no. He asked me who I was sweet on and I told him no one.

I guess I lied twice today. Mother says lying's a sin, but she's a God-fearing woman and I don't believe in God.

_June 12th, 1951._ Judy and Scott are an item now, I guess. I saw them necking outside the clinic. I don't think their babies would be very nice to look at.

_June 20th, 1951._ I'm still aching with misery. I woke up last night to the sound of pebbles striking my window. It was Victoria. It must have been about midnight and she was standing outside with an impish little grin dimpling her face. Father was passed out on the couch in a gin-induced stupor, so sneaking out was easy.  
>I never even asked her what she wanted while we walked all the way over to the beach, but she was bubbling over with giggles while she told me all about overhearing Mr. Algar confessing his sins to Father Gregory when she was at the church for her piano lessons. I wasn't really listening, I suppose, because I can't seem to remember a single gem of defamation she whispered. The weather is so nice now, even in the dead of night, and she looked pretty in her blue dress and shiny black shoes. I felt sloppy in my old, dirt-caked jeans: a schmuck, a flop walking beside a beautiful porcelain doll. Her hair is so glossy and the most enchanting shade of chocolate brown. She's just the way I remember her as a child, only taller now and with budding breasts. She charmed me then and she charms me now, more than I'd ever care to admit…<p>

When we got to the beach and took off our shoes and socks to walk in the sand, I could feel her mood begin to sour: she turned quiet and sad and pouted down at her bare toes when we sat just out of reach of the mild waves. The sky was completely cloudless and the stars looked brilliant; I could have enjoyed it if it weren't for the tension between us.

It took a while for me to coax it out of her, and as the mystery dragged on, I could feel the anxiety swelling in my chest. When she finally told me – turning to stare at me with those wide, sad blue eyes – it was just as bad as I had feared. Her father, she told me, was to send her to a girl's school just outside the city on the mainland. She went on to explain the credentials and qualifications of the prestigious institute, but I was too busy drowning in shock to appreciate them.  
>The little girl I used to spend so many childhood afternoons with is going away – the girl I used to share my innocent and extravagant dreams and secrets with, the girl whose shoes I stepped on every year when we danced together at the New Years Festival, the first girl I ever kissed, the first girl I ever touched beneath the clothes, years ago, as curious, reckless kids…<p>

She always talked about maybe someday going to school in the city, but I never thought it would hit as hard as it did.

When we parted from the beach, I asked her when. Now I think November will forever be my least favorite month…

_July 3rd, 1951._ I am suffocating in depression. I'll never get away from this town. I'll never get away from this farm. I'll never get away from my drunk of a father. I'm stuck. Stuck, stuck, _stuck_.

_July 12th, 1951._ I don't want to write in here anymore…

_July 21st, 1951._ Thoughts of November plague me like death hiding in the corner. People chatter about how excited they are for Victoria to go to the city and what a wonderful opportunity it will be for her. It makes me feel a bit ill, hearing people's happiness over it. I'm not excited for her. I think that makes me selfish, but I don't care.

_July 23rd, 1951._ Victoria was working in the library this morning. I went by to chat. Her skin looks so pretty from the summer's sun…

_August 2nd, 1951._ A storm hit last night. We weren't expecting it. The livestock are all fine, but the field has taken some pretty hard damage. I know Father's going to work me to the bone until it's all settled again. Maybe it'll help me take my mind off things… For the first time in my life, I think farm work might not be so bad.

_August 15th, 1951._ John stole some liquor from the market, and a bunch of us went to the base of Mother's Hill to swim. I had my first sip of alcohol, besides the small glass of wine Mother allows me at holiday dinners. I don't think I would have done it if there hadn't been so many of my friends there – I didn't want to look foolish. I felt like puking when I had my first drink, but I didn't know if that was from the taste or because it reminded me of my father. It made me feel strange, but good.  
>Victoria wore a blue one-piece. I stayed out of the water.<p>

_September 5th, 1951._ I love her. Love is the only explanation. It's the only rational word to equate my feelings for her.

_September 9th, 1951._ I stole a bottle of whiskey from my father's cabinet. He was too drunk to notice. He's too drunk to notice most things, I think.

_September 20th, 1951._ The weather is turning. Summer is slipping through my fingers like grains of sand. Time eludes me, no matter how hard I will it to slow. I wish things were different. I wish Victoria's father wouldn't be so strict on the matter of boys. I wish we could go steady. I wish she wasn't leaving – or, better yet, I wish I could go with her. I'd follow her to the end of the earth, I think, and she doesn't even know.

_October 1st, 1951._ Oh, October! I can't keep away from Victoria. I visit the library every day she works and wait for her outside the church to walk her home from piano lessons four times a week. I try my best to keep away from her father, as I don't want to find myself staring down the barrel of his shotgun. Sometimes I drink and imagine storming right into their house and telling him off. I could never do it though – I know it's already too late. The papers are filed, affairs are in order. Come November, the city will steal her from me.

_October 5th, 1951._ I want to tell her I love her, but I don't know how. Will it hurt more when she leaves or will it hurt less if I do? I can't decide, so I do nothing.

_October 13th, 1951_. Father has been screaming at me for a week for not working harder on the farm. I've _been distracted_, he says. _Leaving at all hours of the day and night!_ I don't want to waste a moment away from Victoria. If only he understood…

_October 19th, 1951_. I wonder how long I've loved her and just didn't realize. When was the precise moment my heart ceased to beat inside my own chest and nested inside hers instead? I wish I could touch her. I long for that afternoon in the woods when I was still eleven and she was a tender nine. It was wrong, so wrong. But I can't get it out of my head. I remember her lips being stained red from the strawberries we had been picking and her salvia tasted so sweet…  
>I didn't know what I was doing and the encounter didn't go much further than a few curious touches, but it's all I've ever known of a girl.<br>If there is a hell like Mother says, I'm going to it.

_October 31st, 1951._ November, you will be the death of me.

_November 1th, 1951._ A ship came into harbor today and left with the love of my life. I didn't go to the dock to see her off, as I knew her father would be there with his keen eyes and disapproving frown. Instead, I met her by the Goddess Pond thirty minutes before to her departure time. She was dolled up in a pretty black skirt with tights beneath her thick blue coat and her hair pulled up and curled into ringlets. Her eyes were puffed up from crying, and it only made it hurt more to look at her. Her face, her beautiful face… I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to beg her not to leave. I couldn't though, so I held her instead and she began to cry. I cried too, but I'm not sure if she noticed.

When we finally pulled apart, she tried her best to smile at me, but her face pulled this-way and that into more of a miserable grimace than any expression of forced happiness. She asked if I'd write to her – I told her twice a week, at least. I went to hug her again, but she stood up tall on her black shoes and kissed me on the mouth. Oh her sweet, soft lips! I would have stopped time if I could.

I swear she was gone by the time I opened my eyes again.

_November 5th, 1951. _I've been gutted like a pig at slaughter. I told Mother I'm just feeling ill, but she doesn't believe me. She knows the real reason, I think. She smells the whiskey on my breath, but she doesn't say a thing about it. Bless her. Father told me I'm a lazy, good-for-nothing bastard. I don't believe he's ever been in love, not even with Mother.

_November 22nd, 1951._ I still await a letter from Victoria. I go to the docks every morning after the animals are fed and stand in the freezing cold, just waiting for the morning imports to come into harbor. Has she forgotten about me already? Has she met a nice, proper young man to pour her affections onto? I hope not, but the silence is deafening.

_ December 3rd, 1951._ I'm losing my mind at a slow and agonizing pace. No letter. No fucking letter.

_December 19th, 1951_. I'd run away if I could. If I had the money, I'd buy a boat ticket and never look back. Father lectures me about obligations and responsibilities, but I don't care. He's a fool and a drunkard. I'll never be like him at all.

_December 24th, 1951._ A girl arrived today, on Christmas Eve of all days! Her father is a friend of Ellen's father, apparently. I caught a glimpse of the new girl outside her house that Scott and his family moved out of last month. She's tall and pretty with dark hair, and she waved at me through the snow. She must be about my age. Elisabeth was her name, I believe.

_December 31st, 1951._ Tonight would be the first time I dance with someone besides Victoria at the New Years Festival. I don't much feel like dancing at all.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> I debated for weeks on how I wanted to write this... It's obviously very different than the other chapters of this fic, but it's really important and I wanted to make sure I did it justice. Hopefully you're starting to notice that a lot of this story is based around themes, and Jack's grandfather and the parallels between their lives is really the thread that ties the whole story and it's themes together.

I also want to say a big resounding THANK YOU to everyone who's been reading this fic so far and to everyone who's been supportive and helpful by leaving me reviews! Stories centered around Jack might not be as popular as some others, but this story is so fun to write and I really hope you all are enjoying. I wanted to weave a story that's unique and interesting and lovely, and hopefully I'm doing a sufficient job.


	17. Chapter 16: A Week in Fragments

**Chapter Sixteen**  
><strong>A Week in Fragments<strong>

Within Claire's first week in Mineral Town, Jack had settled into some kind of vague normalcy – with his cousin, with his sexually generous sweetheart (of sorts), and with the ever more elusive copper haired daughter of the equally copper-headed keeper of the Inn. The heat of summer began its gradual decline as autumn made a quiet approach – distant, yet whispering its presence in the form of a few wispy clouds blemishing the sky or even an occasional morning of mild rain. Still, the days remained long and most still sweltered, the branches of the oaks and poplars swaying in the occasional, much appreciated breeze.

Claire took to the farm with vehemence, as if farming had been in her blood – which, incidentally, it was. Jack introduced her formally to the fields, explaining the crops and their care. The fruits and vegetables were thriving, many quite near or due for harvest and freckling the primarily green-stocked and brown-soiled field with bursts of reds and yellows and purples. As the young farmer detailed the technicalities of his work, he found himself speaking with a pride that felt almost foreign on his tongue. In all his life, Jack had never been proud of most anything he had done – save, perhaps, for his graduation from university. But the farm belonged to him and the laborious days he had spent under the sun, toiling away, had paid off. The magnitude of the field, of course, could never have been accomplished without the help of his best friend and farmhand, Cliff, though that didn't stifle his satisfaction.

But Claire hadn't just come to look at the place and meet her cousin for the first time; she wanted to help. Despite Jack's protests that it wasn't necessary and she could and _should_ simply enjoy her vacation from the city free of manual labor, the blonde insisted. In the mornings, just as the sun had begun its ascend into the sky, instead of being greeted as usual by the kind-faced Cliff, Jack was greeted by both the vagabond and the short, precocious baker-turned-temporary-farmer. Claire had found an old, slightly rusted spare watering can in the shed by the barn. With a look of serene contentment, she would plod back and forth between the field and the old iron spigot, delivering water to the thirsty vegetation.

Claire seemed to have a soft-spot for animals, which was highly appreciated by not only the livestock, but by Lucifer, considering the stallion's real owner still preferred to be at least twenty feet away at all times. Lucifer had grown rapidly, filling out from the young, scraggly looking foal that had appeared on his farm months before, to a taller, sturdier looking steed that had reached some kind of horse equivalent to the awkwardness of pubescence. The blonde would dote over the animal, feeding it (to Jack's dismay) a vegetable or two from the fields as it roamed freely through the grassy portions of the property. A few dirt-caked saddle pads had been excavated from the shed along with an old western-style saddle. In the first week, Claire didn't even dare try to get on the horse, but she did begin the process of letting Lucifer get acclimated to the constrictive device by saddling him up and allowing him to roam around the farm freely. Lucifer made no protests – or at least none vocal.

In the evenings, Claire would bake. Jack didn't cook often and he had quite the modest kitchen to begin with, though the circumstances didn't seem to deter the girl. Claire would visit the Supermarket and come waltzing back with a paper bag filled nearly to the brim with ingredients. Using what limited pots, pans and trays that Jack had, Claire would whip up some kind of culinary masterpiece: moist chocolate cakes, apple tarts, huckleberry scones, and several unfamiliar pastries with unusual names that Jack didn't care to remember as he was busy slipping into a state of complete bliss whenever he ate them.

Jack found Claire's company enjoyable. She was bright, cheerful, curious, and patient. They discussed their childhoods and their families; Claire had attended a private school growing up and a prestigious culinary school in the city; her mother was a kind, gentle homemaker and her father had been a hardworking businessman, but a drunk. Residing at the Inn seemed to help Claire make friends as well; she had, apparently, grown quite close to Ann, along with the usual suspects who would stop by Jack's farm periodically in the afternoons to play cards or watch the four – three functioning – channels on his old, painfully-outdated television: Karen, Gray, Aja, and Cliff. Even Elli seemed quite taken to the young baker, the two grabbing a quick bite of lunch after meeting by chance outside the Supermarket and getting caught up in a discussion about one triviality or another. Claire met up with the group at the bar nightly, though she never ended up drinking more than the occasional beer or a single cocktail if she was feeling particularly lush.

Ann seemed to do her best to avoid Jack's gaze while she waitressed and poured taps for the customers. Her silence chipped away at him, causing him to ricochet violently between swelling misery and resentful agitation. It was hard enough to see Cliff every day with that big, goofy, I-just-got-laid grin spread across his face that Jack wanted to rip it clean off. The awkwardness was never mentioned, though Jack was drowning in it.

But Karen eased the blow; she'd show up in the afternoons to hang around or stumble home drunk with him from the bar for a night of indecency. She was always beautiful, but she was even better naked. Her hair always smelled like lavender. When she was feeling frisky, her lips would curl into an impish little smile that he knew was reserved solely for him. Her charm made him weak and there were moments when he genuinely thought that maybe, someday, he could love her – or that if things could just be different, then she could be the one. But he knew he loved little Annabel Green with a possessive ecstasy that suffocated any possibility of another as well as his sanity under his own resistance.

* * *

><p>Karen had come one evening, long after the day of work had been finished and the sun had made its dance across the sky and began to set, saturating the farm in a thick orange hue. She wore a pretty blue frock and a pair of black shoes, her long blonde hair weaved into a braid. Jack was halfway through a crème danish, a thick book propped open in his lap as he read on the couch. The sound of the door behind him pulled him from his story as he turned to examine his visitor: Karen looked upset, her eyes rather puffy and her nose a blushing shade of pink. Jack, with a frown, immediately tossed his book aside and surrendered the remainder of his pastry to Apollo, who had been waiting patiently by his knee for any dropped crumb or offered morsel.<p>

"What's wrong?" he asked, walking over to the distressed woman.

"Nothing," she lied, "I just had to see you."

Jack wrapped his arms around her, his chin coming to rest on the top of her head. The line that creased his forehead deepened. "_Nothing_? You expect me to believe that? You look like you've been crying."

"It doesn't matter," she croaked into his shirt, her face nestling into the soft fabric.

Opening his mouth, Jack struggled to find the words to say; words failed him – they always did.

"I'm sorry you're sad," he managed.

"Don't be," she mumbled miserably. After a moment, she pulled her face from his chest, tilting her head back to look at him with a forced smile. "Kiss me?" she asked.

He chuckled before leaning down and kissing her. Something felt wrong… off…

When he pulled away, she was staring up at him with her sad green eyes, her bottom lip giving a quiver. All at once, she began to cry; softly at first, with growing intensity. He held her for what felt like hours, too stupid or too afraid to ask _why_.

* * *

><p>"King me."<p>

"You're a bastard, you know that, Gray?" Aja muttered resentfully as she placed a black plastic checker piece on top of another.

It was just past two. The farm work had been completed hours ago – Jack was finding that it passed much quicker since Claire had arrived – and Gray and Aja had dropped by unannounced for an afternoon of leisure. The windows and the door of the farmhouse had all been pushed open, the summer heat only interrupted by the occasional petty breeze. A beat-up old fan whirred lazily in the corner, doing very little in its effort to actually circulate the air. The couch had been pushed aside and a checkerboard set up on the wooden floor. Aja, in a black cotton dress, was lying on her belly, propped up on her elbows up as she stared intensely down at the checked playing field. A long cigarette was pinched between her lips, wagging in a way that was hypnotic every time she mumbled an obscenity under her breath. Beside her was an ashtray littered with cigarette butts of varying lengths. Gray sat opposite, shirtless with his legs crossed and his chin resting in the palm of his hand. He had a sly, confident smirk and was watching his opponent through his steely eyes. Claire, being a spectator of the match, sat on a neutral side, a lollipop in her mouth and her lips stained a shock of synthetic candy-blue. Jack, also shirtless, was lying on the couch a few feet away, a tall glass of gin in one hand and his eyes pinched tightly shut. He had a headache. The hiccupping rhythm that was pouring out of the radio wasn't helping.

"Where's Cliff?" Gray called to Jack, not turning to look from the board.

"He and Ann went for a picnic on Mother's Hill today," Claire filled in after pulling the sticky blue sweet from her mouth.

"Well, isn't that cute?" Gray said sarcastically as he made a strategic move.

"_Fuck_," Aja wheezed under her breath as the piece was placed.

"Yeah, it sure is _something_," Jack grumbled, opening his eyes enough to squint at the ceiling.

"They're really cute together," Claire announced. Claire, unlike Aja, had not been so readily perceptive of Jack's adoration of Ann.

Jack grumbled something unintelligible and shifted into a sitting position, taking a long, miserable swig of his drink.

"Are you going to the Firework Festival?" Aja asked Claire with pointed haste, likely trying to drive the subject away from the blissful coupling of Cliff and Ann in order to spare Jack the reminder.

"What's that?" Claire asked. Her nose scrunched up in a way that, paired with the blueness of her lips, made her look like a child.

"Our town has a lot of festivals," Gray explained. "They're like little holidays that are unique to Mineral Town. We have the Firework Festival to celebrate the end of summer. Pretty much the entire town goes to the beach at night and they put on this pretty great firework display. My grandfather helps organize it every year."

"Oh, that's cool," Claire said genuinely.

"It's kind of like a date thing," Aja continued. "I mean, everybody goes anyway, but a lot of people pair off and take dates." She ashed her cigarette in the glass tray. "It's been years since I've gone, so I'm pretty excited."

"Are you going with anyone?" Claire asked.

"No, no one yet." Aja sighed, watching yet another one of her checker pieces being consumed. "It's in a week though, so I'll figure it out by then."

Claire then turned to Gray. "What about you?"

"I'm not sure yet," he said as he glanced over to Claire, offering a rare smile.

"Well, I _know_ Jack's going with Karen," Claire announced in a sing-song-y voice, turning to look over her shoulder at her miserable cousin.

"Yeah, I promised her I'd make her dinner and then we'd go together," Jack said, "but I don't know how to cook."

"Trust me, Jack, whatever you make will be better than anything she'll ever make," Aja insisted slyly.

"That's true," Jack agreed and chuckled, which he instantly regretted with the pounding of his head.

"Do you have anyone in mind?" Claire asked Aja.

"Fuck if I know," she stubbed out the last of her cigarette. "I know Elli and Trent and going together, and Cliff and Ann, of course…"

"Kai asked Mary – he told me the other day," Gray added.

"Ugh, is he really still on her?" Jack asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

Gray laughed. "Yeah, of course. Think about it: Kai's used to getting every girl he wants. Mary's a challenge for him. She's everything he's not used to, yah know?"

Jack, considering this, shrugged. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Why don't you like Mary?" Claire asked her cousin curiously.

Blinking, Jack shook his head. "No, no, it's not that I don't like _Mary _– I think she's great. I don't like _Kai_."

"Oh… any reason?"

"He fucked Karen," Aja explained nonchalantly.

Claire laughed. "_Ohh_, now I understand."

"Don't worry, Claire," Aja grinned slickly, "you'll be caught up on all the Mineral Town drama soon enough."

* * *

><p>It wasn't often that Jack visited Karen at the Supermarket out of avoidance of the inevitably awkward confrontation between him and one or both of her parents. There was no label on whatever kind of relationship that they had entered into, but it was generally known and accepted through the small, intimate village of Mineral Town that they were 'together' in some sort of capacity. Perhaps it was more of shame than anything else that kept Jack away from Sasha and Jeff; had Jack been the man he <em>should <em>have been for Karen – attentive, devoted, and undoubtedly trustworthy – then being around them likely wouldn't have made him so uncomfortable. The deep, nagging sense that he may do something someday (accidentally or otherwise) to hurt their daughter kept him from waltzing in, shaking her father's hand, and vowing to be good to his daughter like a real man should have. Jack never wanted to hurt Karen, but he didn't make promises he couldn't keep either. All paired with the fact that Karen had been acting a bit peculiarly since her mysterious crying episode, Jack wasn't quite sure how to handle the entire situation.

The avoidance, of course, eventually led to the near-complete absence of food from his home. When the prospect of starvation became a bit too real, Jack, with great reluctance, made his way to the Supermarket.

It was Sasha running the store that morning; Jeff was surely taking yet another routine visit to the Clinic to complain about a series of psychological-turned-physical symptoms that, ultimately, were of his own doing. Sasha, despite being more hard-shelled than her pushover of a husband, somehow intimidated Jack less than her softer half. She greeted him with a smile; he returned a weary one of his own. There was no mention of Karen, only simple pleasantries as she rung up his goods and he hastily made correct change.

With a large, brown paper bag in his arms, he plodded down the brick road. Up ahead he could see May, the granddaughter of Barley, and Stu, Elli's younger brother. They were both crouched on the ground outside of Elli's home, hovering over a collection of brightly colored marbles.

"Hi, Mr. Harper," May called politely as he approached, her sugar-sweet smile dimpling her face.

"Hi, Jack," Stu said.

"Hey, guys. What're you doing?" Jack asked as he came to a stop, looking down at the peculiar glass beads. There were dozens.

"We're playing marbles," May announced, her grin revealing a missing tooth.

Jack chuckled. "It looks like fun," he lied.

"Jack?"

Jack glanced up to see Elli standing in the open doorway of her house. She was barefooted, in a powder blue dress, and smiling warmly at him.

"Hey, Elli," he said.

She stepped outside and walked over to him. "I met your cousin, Claire, the other day."

"Yeah, she said you two had lunch together."

"She seems like a really nice girl." Her voice was gentle and kind, as it always was. Sometimes Jack suspected that Elli didn't have a single truly mean bone in her body. Sure, she could be strict when it came to reprimanding her little brother, but even then it was in a matronly way – certainly never cruel or sadistic and never unfair. She was wise and mature, especially for her age, though Jack was certain that had a lot to do with the fact that her parents had died when she was so young and she had been left to care for not only herself, but her young brother and aging, physically disabled grandmother. Jack couldn't imagine the young woman's emotional strength; he felt foolish and his problems seemed petty in comparison. "I'm really glad you reached out to her. It must be so nice to be learning about your family."

"It is," he replied with a faint smile.

Elli tilted her head curiously, her short brown hair swaying as she did. "Is something the matter, Jack? You seem a little blue." Her brows had laced together in concern.

Elli would have made a good therapist, Jack decided. "Oh, it's nothing. I just have a lot going on lately… You know, personal drama. Trivialities, really." He forced what he could of a genuine smile.

Elli gave a light sigh and smiled, shaking her head in a _what-am-I-going-to-do-with-you_ kind of way. "If you ever need to talk, Jack, my door is always open, you know that. Anything you say to me will remain in confidence, of course."

Jack exhaled a melancholy sigh. "I really appreciate it, Elli."

"Of course. Take care, Jack." Smiling, she gave his lightly tanned forearm and gentle squeeze before they both turned to part ways.

As Jack was making his way back down to the road toward his farm, he heard a chirpy voice behind him.

"Mr. Harper!"

Jack turned to see May running after him, her little red dress blowing all around her pale legs. By the time she reached him, she was panting slightly.

"What is it, May?" he asked.

"Mr. Harper, I want you to have my favoritest marble. It's my _lucky_ marble." Her hands were balled into tiny fists, held tightly to her chest.

Jack blinked. "Oh… May, you don't have to do th–"

"I want you to have it," she repeated with light smile. She held out one clenched fist, unfurling her pale little fingers to reveal a single droplet of glass in her palm.

Jack, shifting the weight of the paper bag in his arms, plucked the marble up gingerly and lifted it toward the bright summer sky to inspect it. Inside were beautiful wisps of blues and reds. The colors looked as if they had been dancing, only to be frozen in time and immortalized inside the clear glass casing.

"It'll make you lucky so you won't be sad," May explained, the slightest lisp in her words from her missing tooth.

Jack's face couldn't help but break into a wide grin. His fingers closed tightly around the marble.

"Thank you, May. I'll keep it forever and ever."

* * *

><p>The bar was always busy at night. Typically Jack associated with the same group, give or take who was there on any given night: Cliff, Karen, Claire (since her arrival), Gray, Aja, Rick (by proxy of Karen), and Ann when she wasn't working or on the off day when she didn't feel like avoiding Jack completely. Since summer had begun and run the majority of its course, Kai often imposed his way into the group to drink his beers and make snide, cocky remarks. In all, Jack couldn't resent Kai too much; Jack had, after all, 'gotten the girl' in the end and Kai had yet to make good on his vague threat in the middle of summer when Karen and he had first ended their tryst.<p>

That evening, Jack sat alone with Cliff at a table in the back of the bar for some needed time away from the rest of the rowdy crowd that had flocked there. Since Cliff first started his relationship with Ann, Jack had done his best not to resent Cliff in any capacity, though it was difficult when he spoke so frequently of his feelings for the girl of their joint affections. Most of the time Jack could push it all aside and pretend like it wasn't bothering him, carrying on day after day in the fields, laughing and joking and telling stories of each other's lives – Cliff's always more vague and never giving any hints to the secretive past he still refused to share – as if nothing had ever come between them. Cliff was his best friend, after all, and nothing was going to change that – not even Miss Annabel Green.

Four pints of beer deep, they watched from afar as Kai attempted to drunkenly perform some kind of magic trick that involved making the purple bandana he frequently wore disappear. It didn't seem to be going as planned but most of the bar was watching and had burst into fits of hiccupping, amused laughter.

"Do you think Kai's ever going to, you know… tell everyone you fucked Poppy?" Cliff asked Jack as he stared, mesmerized either by the trick or the pompous grin plastered all over Kai's face.

Jack sighed and shrugged. "Nah, I doubt it. He's all bark and no bite, I think."

"Ah. Well, he'll be gone soon anyway," Cliff assured between gulps of his dark, chocolaty ale.

"Yeah…" Jack murmured. "I can't believe summer's actually almost over."

"Tell me about it. What… five more days?"

"Mhm. One more big harvest for the season, and then we get to start all over," Jack chuckled.

Cliff laughed dryly, leaning back against his chair. A ripe silence settled between them, filled with the sound of the bar music, laughter, and drunken prattle, yet still somewhat tense in their lack of words.

Suddenly, Cliff sighed. "A lot's changed since the beginning of summer, huh?" he said.

Jack frowned and ran a hand across his own cheek, feeling the faint stubble that had grown in his laziness to shave for days in a row. "Yeah, it sure has."

"I mean, with Kai and Aja and Claire coming here… and Ann and I and you and Karen…" Cliff trailed off.

Jack took several massive gulps of his beer.

"Do you remember the beginning of summer?" Cliff asked, his voice raising an octave and becoming suddenly sentimental. "When you and Ann and I used to get drunk and play cards every night? And dance and stuff?"

Jack sighed. "Yeah, Cliff. I remember…"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong> As always, review if you're following along and have any comments/suggestions/support for me! It's always very appreciated! This is kind of an unusual chapter, being fragmented like this, but I wanted to keep the pacing fairly consistent without having to turn this isn't like, four separate chapters.


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